Beyond the Chaos
by DC111
Summary: A mysterious robot strengthened by three insanely powerful Emeralds destroys the city in an attempt to find his two-tailed target. The only way to stop him lies in a place Sonic and Tails never thought they'd have to return to: the Hidden Palace. OLDFIC
1. Chapter 1: Secret Messenger

-**Okay. Quite a few author's notes I need to make known so this all makes sense. First, remember that any talk of using the Super Emeralds BEFORE this story is most likely a reference to when they used them in Sonic 3 and Knuckles. **

**Another thing: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ THE FIRST TWO INSTALLATIONS OF THE SERIES to understand this one, although it'd be uber-cool of you if you did.**

**Also, this series was made to be in line with the official storyline, so all this took place after Sonic, Tails and Knuckles used the Super Emeralds in S3&K to transform (I know, I said that already… but that's sort of important). (As I said at the beginning of Capture the Fox, all three of these stories are taking place before Sonic Adventure as well).**

**But anyway, I hope you enjoy this story! It picks up directly where A New Hero Rises left off. Oh, and I should warn you… this story will have a much, much darker feel to it than the other two, especially towards the very end. But that's a good thing, right…? Rated T mostly for violence, and once again, that's mostly near the end. The main characters in this story are, once again, Sonic and Tails – but this time, you'll actually see them working together for the better part of the story, instead of one of them having to find the other.**

**Okay, I've said everything that's worth mentioning… now without further ado... Oh, wait, wait, almost forgot the oh-so-important disclaimer. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sega or Sonic Team. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Espio, Amy, Eggman, or any other characters used in this story aside from the 'bot in black are also owned by Sega and Sonic Team and have been used without permission. Also, the plot line of this story is mine and mine only – if you wish to use it in any way, contact me first. This is not plagiarism – honest. Any similarities to other stories are coincidental.**

**Oh yeah, and one more thing… the reason that my page breaks look like this: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, is because the other ones don't show up… they just disappear when I upload it to the document manager. Just letting you know because there are some picky readers out there.**

**All right… I'm pretty sure that's everything I had to say. It darn well SHOULD be… just my babbling is nearly a page long. Phew. Might as well make a novel while I'm at it.**

**(Edit: Changed it from 'prologue' to 'chapter 1'.)**

CHAPTER 1: Secret Messenger

_**Beyond the Chaos…**_

_Beyond the Golden Orb lies_

_An object radiating before your eyes._

_Large and diamond-shaped as it lays,_

_Only to be used by the valiant and brave._

_More powerful than Chaos or existence itself…_

_To be used properly or cast into hell._

_It is your enemy, it is your friend,_

_It will exist eternally; until the end._

_There to save lives… or to kill,_

_May they be used wisely and only with will…_

_For the wrath of the seven Super is unforgiving…_

_As it is not just Chaos… it is very nearly living._

…_**there is Super…**_

Miles Prower awoke with a start, eyes wide and fearful. "What in the world was _that?_" He nearly shouted, referring to his unusual dream. "_What _is very nearly living? Who just said that…?"

He looked around his bedroom suspiciously, only to see that there was no one around. "I was dreaming," he stated, feeling somewhat embarrassed in spite of himself. "Sort of creepy… diamond-shaped? Radiation… If I didn't know better, it sounds an awful lot like a Chaos Emerald."

Tails paused and reminded himself that it was only a dream, regardless of his mind's apparent ability to rhyme in his sleep – but he was still unable to convince himself.

Oblivious to the fact that it was past four o'clock in the morning, the fox thrust the blankets away from him and wrapped his namesakes around himself to keep warm. He began trotting around the room, as if to make sure no one was there. He put one hand on the tan-colored wall and dragged it along the smooth surface slowly, trying to assure himself that he wasn't still _in _a dream.

It felt solid, though.

He walked over to his closet and opened the door – nothing. He walked over to the window and stared at the beautiful night sky, and at the ocean that lie beneath it, just below the cliff that his workshop stood upon.

He could also see Angel Island from here.

Wait a minute… he wasn't supposed to be able to see Angel Island from here. It was normally much further off than that! Had it… _moved? _But… that was impossible!

Abruptly, Tails opened the window and jumped out, landing on the ground in front of it. He took a few cautious steps forward, squinting at the sight of the island. He could see the Master Emerald clearly, and if he wasn't crazy, it was a lot brighter than it usually was. The fox wondered if Knuckles was aware of this, or if he was sound asleep as it was happening.

"Weird," Tails breathed before turning and looking up at the roof to see if Sonic was awake. No such luck. He sighed and reentered his workshop. _Something is definitely going on… maybe I'm not crazy. _

The twin-tailed fox climbed back into bed, forcing himself to ignore the strange circumstances. He closed his eyes and was sleeping in less than five minutes.

_Tails…_

The young fox's eyes shot open again, only to see that he was no longer in his bed. In fact, he was laying in soft green grass that was about six inches tall… outside of a grey, mysterious-looking building.

"What!?" He shrieked. He pushed himself to his feet, head dashing from side to side frantically as he took in his surroundings. "I… I…" He started anxiously. "Hold on, I know this place."

_Of course you do… you were here several years ago, don't you remember?_

"Not… not quite," Tails replied warily. "Wait, why am I talking to you? Who are you?" He demanded. However, as much as he wanted to say so, he didn't feel threatened. There was no tension in the atmosphere.

_You know who I am._

"_Where _are you, then?"

_My conscience is inside your mind._

"Your… conscience? What are you talking about? What kind of person can go inside someone else's head?" Tails asked, a look of perplexed worry on his face.

_I'm not a person, _the voice replied in a whisper. _Worry about that later. Go into that grey temple._

"What's in there?" Tails asked, walking forward cautiously. He peeked inside the temple and saw four gems. They were all colorless… they appeared as dull pieces of rock. "The Chaos Emeralds… there are only four there!" He said.

_Three have been taken by Doctor Robotnik, and a few nights ago he managed to sneak them to this very temple, along with the Master Emerald, and charge them to their full power. You see, the time has come for the Chaos Emeralds to transform to their most powerful forms again, and Eggman realized this when he couldn't get them to function properly with one of his creations._

"What do you mean?" Tails asked curiously.

_Do you not remember your first transformation? Do you not remember the hedgehog's Hyper transformation?_

"Wait… _no way_! You mean it's happening again? But why NOW? Why when Eggman has three of the Emeralds?" Tails asked.

_There is no way to control when the Emeralds contain their full power – not even a Guardian can do that. The single controller of the Chaos Emeralds is the Master Emerald._

"But… why does it happen?" Tails asked.

_Every second of every day, the Master Emerald's energy level increases ever so slightly. As life goes on, there comes a time once every several years when it contains too much energy… and it needs somewhere to release some of it. This is where the Chaos Emeralds come into play. They already have their power, but when the Master Emerald deposits some of its own into them, they become strengthened beyond measure._

"But are they dull and grey like this in real life?"

_Yes_.

"Why is that? Didn't you just say the Master Emerald released some of its energy into them?"

_I said it was going to happen. It hasn't happened yet, and it won't happen until you get all four remaining Emeralds to the Hidden Palace. _

"Is there a way I could beat Eggman with the Chaos Emeralds having their regular amount of strength? Could I just take these four?"

_No… these are not really the remaining four Emeralds… nor is the ground you stand upon really there… this is nothing more than a dream, Tails, a warning. Even if you could take them, they wouldn't have enough power. The strength of four Chaos Emeralds cannot even come remotely close to rivaling that of ONE Super Emerald. And Robotnik has three charged ones already._

"Dare I ask… just how much stronger _is _one Super Emerald than one Chaos Emerald?" Tails said slowly.

_Seven times stronger. In other words, one Super Emerald is equal to all seven Chaos Emeralds._

"What am I supposed to do, then!?" The perturbed fox shrieked.

_Find them, Miles. Find them, allow the Master Emerald to release energy into them, and most importantly… don't be afraid to use them._

"Wait! Are you going to tell me who you are?" Tails called.

_You know who I am, _the voice repeated. Then, everything flashed white, and Tails was in his room again.

"Aw, come on!" He shouted desperately. "I _don't _know who you are! I don't know how to find the rest of the Emeralds!" The fox stomped over to the window and slammed his hand on the glass with frustration. He failed to notice that Angel Island was no longer in view.

"I get it now…" He said after a few minutes' hesitation. "I remember. That temple was… the Hidden Palace."

He understood, now. The Chaos Emeralds were going to once again become the Super Emeralds again, very soon. Eggman had managed to charge the three he had with the Master Emerald… somehow without Knuckles noticing. And now Tails had to find the remaining four and protect them with his life… because if Eggman got his dirty hands on them, the world could be devastated.

"But when the Emeralds are in their Super state, they will only go back to their normal state when someone takes the excess energy out of them – that is, the energy the Master Emerald put into them. For that, Hyper transformation needs to happen…and I can't do that alone. I can't handle that much energy… not when I've only used transformation with all seven Emeralds once in my life. It'll kill me – I need Sonic's help. This will only work if we _both _draw on the Super Emeralds' energy together." Satisfied that he had figured all of this out, Tails went off to find Sonic.

**Please review and tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2: Two Tailed Conspiracy

**Nothing much to say… here's chapter 2. It's a little on the short side… apologies for that.**

**(Edit: Changed from 'chapter 1' to 'chapter 2')**

CHAPTER 2: Two-tailed Conspiracy

Ivo Robotnik, most commonly known as Doctor Eggman, paced the steel floors of his control room, lost in thought. His latest and hopefully greatest creation had wandered off weeks ago and apparently attacked Tails and shattered the Master Emerald.

It hadn't returned since.

_I don't know how to get him back here – since I haven't activated his power source, there's no way I can track him down… if only I had activated those Emeralds…_

Aside from the fact that Sonic was now able to run again, if he couldn't find that robot, Sonic would surely come back again soon to find _him. _And without his minions, admittedly, he was toast.

"Curse you, Zorro!!" The man hollered to the air around him. The scream echoed throughout the Dome Base, like a million Eggmans were shouting it back at him. Then there was a long, long silence. Eggman closed his eyes, deep in thought once again.

Then, out of no where, came a familiar yet unexpected voice…

"You called, Doctor?"

Eggman jumped reflexively. "You… what are you doing here!? I thought you were gone!"

"I have been at this base for about a week now," the robot replied.

"Same amount of time I've been absent from it," Eggman muttered under his breath.

"I beg your pardon?"

Eggman ignored his robot's question and instead asked one of his own.

"What is the matter with you, fool?" He shrieked. "You are not to leave this base without my permission, ever!"

"Apologies, Doctor; it will not happen again." The voice of the robot sounded surprisingly young, almost like a child, bar the eerie monotone.

"Do you think that Tails, and especially that Knucklehead weren't the least bit curious as to why a random robot covered in black armor suddenly interfered with the Master Emerald?" There was a pause. "Answer me."

"Doctor, they mustn't be too concerned; after all, them being under your attack isn't a rare occurrence."

"You were not supposed to show yourself to those freaks until our plans were ready to see action!" Eggman continued as if he hadn't heard the robot's last sentence.

"They never saw my true form," the robot replied in a would-be-defensive tone. "Unless their senses and/or technical equipment exceeds my expectations, there is no possible way they could have seen through the armor."

"Don't let them find out your true identity! Don't leave this base! Understood?" Robotnik demanded.

"Affirmative," the young voice replied. "I should tell you, though," the robot continued.

"What?"

"While I was following him, I was able to copy many of his skills. Is this the way I was programmed?"

"Yes, part of his DNA, and also a blood sample, flows within your system, making you able to do everything he does. Soon, once you are upgraded, you will be able to see many of the things he sees, and most often, know what his next move will be. Only if you're close enough to him, though. The three Emeralds I've managed to gather will help you with that, especially since they transformed to become the Super Emeralds. They are already inside you… I just want to wait for the right time to activate their power."

"Doctor," The robot said, "How, may I ask, did you get his blood and DNA?"

Eggman brought a hand to his chin and turned to face his minion. "I captured him quite some time ago. About a year, now. He was brought onto one of my air fortresses, the Black Hawk, and there I put a device into his arm that caused him to turn against his friends. This plan failed, though, when the device was finally taken out of his arm and he returned to normal. However, I managed to recover the device in question after this incident, and it is right here."

Eggman held up the small, dime-sized chip for his robot to see. "You see, his blood, which contains DNA, was on this device from being inside his arm. And, using this DNA, I have created someone very special, in robot form…"

"Who might that be?" The bot asked.

"That, my friend, is you."

The robot cocked his head, as if preparing to ask another question, when Eggman interrupted his thoughts.

"Just how many times did he see you, anyway?"

"Once, Doctor, after I shattered the Master Emerald. In doing so, my intentions were not to disappoint you. I thought that if I shattered it, it would slow the targets down on their quest to find Sonic. And it did."

"You weren't supposed to come into the plan UNTIL they found Sonic, idiot," Eggman retorted. "Thanks to your stupid mistake, I leave you no choice but to follow my plan B. I have yet to finish my plot… but when I do, you WILL be ready. Well, maybe not, because I may have to explain it more than once. I don't want any more 'misunderstandings'."

"Understood, Doctor." Knowing that no one but the Doctor could see his true form while he was inside the base, the robot began disassembling the armor from his body, revealing his true form. An evil gleam lit his bright blue eyes. "I'm more than ready to attack… as soon as you are."

"You will do well in getting revenge on him," Eggman said proudly. "You will do well."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

-Station Square, two weeks later-

Sonic raced through the streets of Station Square with ease. His running speed wasn't as fast as it used to be… but he was gradually making progress. Because he had spent so much time trying to run quickly again during the past two weeks, he hadn't seen Tails much since the fox had told him about his dream. As usual, Sonic hadn't thought much of it and told Tails to just relax, saying, "Don't worry, bud, it's a dream. It doesn't mean anything."

At least, he _hoped _it didn't mean anything. Sonic would be perfectly content if he never heard the phrase, "Super Emerald," again. He remembered all too well what it had been like the _last _time he transformed with them, which was when he and Tails were fighting the Death Egg for the second time. It had been a difficult experience; the powers of the Super Emeralds were so intense that it was painful to transform with them, and very overwhelming. It was almost like being electrocuted.

As much as Sonic tried to avoid the possibility of using the Super Emeralds again, if what Tails had told him was true, he wouldn't have a choice.

"Ah, well, guess we'll find out soo—" Sonic stopped abruptly as he heard a gunshot, and it sounded close.

It took him a full five seconds to realize that it had been aimed at him, and it didn't miss.

Natural instinct took over, and Sonic panicked as the pain registered in his mind. He reached over his shoulder and clutched the affected area on his back as well as he could. He felt blood soaking his glove rapidly, leaking through it and onto his hand. His vision blurred, and he barely managed to turn and face his attacker before he fell backwards onto the ground, gasping for breath.

The only details he could make out were the two large, fluffy tails that dragged behind the attacker as he continued to run far, far away from the scene.

**So… why's the robot's name Zorro? I can explain that: that's the word for 'fox' in some other language, though I forget what language it is right now…**

**Also, another quick note, Eggman's reference to the Master Emerald and the black robot's interference with it was about something that happened in the prequel to this story, so if that made sense, GREAT! If you're a new reader, don't worry about it… it doesn't really mean anything.**

**Thanks for reading… please review if you have time. :) We'll get back to the whole Super Emerald deal in a few chapters. A few things have to happen first. ;)**


	3. Chapter 3: A Matter of Trust

-NOTE: This chapter has been revised as of 5/12/11 for incredibly shoddy characterization. I was just reading back on this, and realized I must have had a VERY off day to type Sonic the way I typed him in this chapter. If you have read this before, please don't base your judgment on that. I am actually pretty good at keeping Sonic in character, if I do say so myself. ;P

**Chapter 3: A Matter of Trust**

**M'kay, here's some news for ya - know how I said this series was meant to be in line with the Sonic Adventure series (etc.) as well? Well, it's not anymore - just think of it as Sonic and co. 'taking a different path' after Sonic 3 and Knuckles and SA never happened. Why? Because it wouldn't make sense with some things that happen later on in the story. I might change it a little to fix that problem, but as if right now, Sonic Adventure never ends up happening (that doesn't mean I'm not planning on doing that adaptation, still - it just wouldn't be in line with this).**

CHAPTER 3: A Matter of Trust

Sonic's eyes shot open, fit to bulge out of his head. He abruptly sat up, then felt the searing pain in his left shoulder and screamed, collapsing back onto the bead. "What the…" A cold sweat covered his face, and he clenched his teeth. He reached his hand over his left shoulder, moving slowly to avoid injury.

Just then, the doctor came in and yelled, "Don't _move!_" Sonic screamed again and jumped reflexively, causing his shoulder even more agony.

Purpose defeated.

"Yeah, _that's _going to keep me still!" Sonic said in an unusually high-pitched voice.

"Sonic, we took the bullet out only a few minutes ago, and your shoulder is fractured. Abrupt movements can and will worsen the problem!" The female human said sincerely. There was an awkward pause, one in which Sonic let out a frustrated sigh, and then she said, "I apologize…"

"You're not going to believe who shot me," Sonic said, his voice carrying a depressed tone that no one had ever heard out of him before.

"Why?" The doctor seemed to reply automatically. "Are… are you sure of who shot you? Because as far as I know, investigators are trying to discover that as we speak."

"It was…"

Suddenly, the door opened a second time, startling both of them. Tails raced in. "Sonic, I just saw the news! What happened? _How? _Even Eggman doesn't use guns! Are you going to be okay?" One could say that the young fox looked like he was about to explode. His concerned eyes seemed to say he had more questions than he had just asked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on!" Sonic began. "How can you be saying this?" He wasn't being sarcastic, either. Seriously, had he not clearly _seen _Tails running off after he fell over? Or maybe he had been dreaming – wait, then how had he been shot? Maybe that had been Tails coming _towards _him to help? _No, because I didn't see his face, _Sonic thought to himself. _Only those two tails. And with a distinctive feature like that, it had to have been him…?_

"What do you mean?" Tails questioned, ears dropping slightly. "Sonic, I just wanted—"

"Tails… wait, _was _that you? What's going on?" Once again, Sonic's voice carried no venom, just confusion.

"No, of course it wasn't! Sonic, did you hit your head or something? You know better than that."

"Who was it, then?"

"I… I don't know, Sonic," the fox stammered. "I swear, I…"

"Hey, relax, I'm not accusing you. You're my bro, I wouldn't do that. It's just… it _looked _like you, so I thought you might have an idea about this."

"None at all. I can't believe this happened, Sonic! How dare someone even do that!" Tails couldn't decide why he was more angry: because the person was an imposter of him, or because the person had shot Sonic. He concluded that the latter was probably more justified of a reason.

"What's this? You're not _surprised _at someone trying to kill me, are you? I mean, all things considering…"

"But it's usually Eggman," Tails pointed out. "This isn't normal! Listen, I'm going to go see what I can figure out. Someone's got to do something, and you're stuck here in bed. I'll come back soon, though, okay?"

"Sure thing, buddy. Be careful."

Sonic watched him go, those twin tails swishing back and forth behind him in the same way his attacker's had done. Minutes dragged by as he sat there on the hospital bed.

He was just about to fall asleep when he heard the words, "Breaking news! Sonic the hedgehog, allegedly, was the victim of a murder attempt less than 24 hours ago."

"Ugh… why does this stuff always have to be public? I don't want a million visitors."

Sonic silenced himself to listen to what was on. "Live, right now, is whom officials say the attacker was as a police officer records him running away with a gun in his hand..." On the screen was his attacker, running at quick speeds down the busiest street in Station Square. "…Authorities say that the attacker is none other than Miles Prower…" Spoke the person on the television, to Sonic's horror.

Sonic sat there for a few minutes, staring straight ahead but at nothing in particular. He couldn't shake the nagging feeling that there was more to this than met the eye, as Tails had suggested when pointing out that it was usually Eggman.

"Damn it," Sonic finally muttered under his breath, still trying to wrap his head around the situation. "I don't know who the imposter was that they were just chasing on the news, but I hope they don't find the real Tails before I do!" Sonic dashed out of the room, past the doctors, down the stairs, and out of the building. _I'm coming, Tails!_

He skidded to a halt on the sidewalk and stared, wide-eyed. "Oh, no…"

Only a few feet in front of him, there was a huge crack in the road that appeared to go on for several yards. Through his peripheral vision, he could see flames lighting up several buildings. Panicking citizens were scattering in random directions, unsure of what to do or where to go.

"Sonic, we see you are well enough to leave the hospital. Tell us, do you know why—"

"Not now!" Sonic snapped, fixing the broadcaster with a glare.

"Are you planning on once again proving your heroism by helping our city?" He continued.

"Not _now_," Sonic reiterated impatiently. "But I will find the attacker."

"It has already been released to the media that your apparent attacker was none other than Miles Prower, Sonic," she said.

"Tell them they're wrong."

Ignoring Sonic's comment, the interviewer continued with questions, right there in the middle of the sidewalk. "Why do you think your own best friend would do this to you?"

"No comment!" Sonic said simply. Then he was off.

Racing down the roads of Station Square, it was clear that significant damage had been done all around the city. Homes had been reduced to nothing more than rubble, the fires were spreading, and children were crying. As much as he hated to ignore the requests for help, finding his attacker and Tails were his first priorities this time. If he found the attacker, _everyone's _problems would be solved at once.

"It's only been ten minutes since the real Tails left… he would have come back the city had looked this way before. How could this much damage be done in so little time?" Sonic shook his head. "Jeez, even _I'm _not strong enough to do this. Not this fast, anyway!" Taking one last look at the ruined city around him, Sonic turned left and headed for Tails' workshop.

What normally would have taken five minutes for the hedgehog took about ten due to his running speed, which was still not quite where it should have been. Once he arrived, he raced around the area twice, searching outside first – no luck.

The blue blur quickly entered the house and looked around the small kitchen in front of him. No Tails. He ran through every room, looking left and right in each one… opening every closet door… checking under every desk. He even went to the garage to see if Tails might be working on some new plane or other invention – but to no avail.

"Tails! Are you okay, buddy? The city is being destroyed as I speak!"

Not so much as a peep. He wasn't here.

Sighing, Sonic went back into the living room and collapsed onto the couch, unsure of what to do next. _Maybe the media knows more than I do, _Sonic thought to himself. He turned on the news, and sure enough, he was right.

"…And that's your local weather forecast for today. Right now, we are live from in front of the Station Square local prison, and authorities have stated that Miles Prower has been put in jail until further notice. The young fox refused to comment on the situation when he was asked a few minutes ago and denied any involvement. Many townspeople we have spoken with today are surprised and appalled that Tails would commit a crime of this sort. While we are not allowed to release most of the information we know right now, a full news broadcast will take place at—"

Sonic pressed the power button on the remote and the television went black. "Those idiots. What happened to rights?" He jumped to his feet. "I have to get him out of there."

_But… how? Jails are meant to keep prisoners from getting out – serving that purpose, it's not exactly going to be easy for me to get in._

After a few seconds of hesitation, Sonic decided to think on his feet and walked towards the door. After all, who knew what could be happening to his best friend right now? He didn't want to waste any time – he needed to straighten things out as fast as possible.

Unfortunately for the blue hedgehog, he wouldn't be making progress as speedily as he would have liked… for as soon as he walked out the door, three cop cars pulled up in front of the workshop and turned sideways as they skidded to a halt, blocking his path. Unsure of what to do, he stopped and waited for them to get out of their respective cars, wondering what could be so important right now.

"Sonic the hedgehog, we need you to come with us."

**This is the last really short chapter for a while - got three or four uber-long ones coming at ya later. See ya!**


	4. Chapter 4: Evident Enemies

**Unlike the last three, this chapter is actually pretty long – about two times longer than any of the other ones. ;) Enjoy.**

CHAPTER 4: Evident Enemies, Renewed Relationships

"Sonic the hedgehog, we need you to come with us." The female cop in front said.

"How come?" Sonic asked simply.

"Did young Miles not attempt to kill you?"

"No. No, he didn't." Sonic stated firmly.

"I understand that he is your friend and that it may be hard to accept, but we have all the evidence that he—"

"He didn't do it – you've got the wrong person," Sonic told her.

"Sonic, we need you to come with us to the courthouse. Tails is currently in the Station Square local jail, and he stands trial this afternoon. You must be there ahead of time, so please cooperate with us. We're serving justice to someone who tried to hurt you." The cop said, trying desperately to convince the blue hedgehog.

"No, I don't think I want to cooperate," Sonic said scornfully. He walked forward as if to leave, like the police weren't even there. "I want my friend out of jail. This trial isn't two-sided… if I, Station Square's hero, am on Tails' side, everyone is. You have no right to arrest him when no one accused him of anything."

Two male cops held their rifles across each other, making an 'x' out of them to block Sonic's path. He looked up at the one on his left with a frown that said he was more than a little irritated. "You think I can't jump that?"

Faster than even Sonic could think to move, the cop he'd questioned had his gun against Sonic's forehead.

"Take a chill pill," Sonic retorted.

"Dale, take it easy…" The cop on the right said. He reached out and took the gun from the threatening cop, Dale, and held it out of reach. "He has a short temper. Don't get on his bad side."

"You're telling me that? He's the one who made the move. Better tell him to keep away from _my _bad side." Sonic shot a daring glare at Dale.

"Shut up," Dale snapped.

Sonic opened his mouth to comment on how bad of a comeback that was, and was promptly met with a fist to the face. He stepped back and brought one hand to his nose in an attempt to ease the pain.

"So, that's your bad side, eh?" Sonic said mockingly. Another fist aimed in his direction, but Sonic ducked out of the way. "You need some work on your aim."

The hedgehog shot into the air and whipped his right foot across Dale's face in a semicircle, then dashed forward and landed on the ground past the cars.

"Wait!" The female cop shouted after him.

"Nah, let him go, Elenor. He'll fight to get his way… and he's too fast for us, anyway."

"But Jack, he'll free Miles, that – that murderer! I'm going to stop him!" Without another word, Elenor got in her car and sped off after Sonic.

Jack, on the other hand, stayed behind. "That blue hedgehog has saved our asses more times than we could hope to count, along with his fox friend. I'm on his side."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I know! I'll go to the Chaotix Detective Agency. I think I know what's going to get Tails out of there…" Sonic did a U-turn and went back the way he came, then turned left and went about half way down the street before stopping. "There it is!"

He ran up to the door and knocked on it hard. "Hey Espio, if you're in there, I need to ask you a favor!"

A few moments passed in silence before an unexpected 'thump' shook the door, then the unmistakably excited sound of Charmy's high-pitched voice hollering, "Yeah, I beat you to the door, Vector! I beat you to the door!"

"Great, now can you open it?" Sonic asked impatiently from outside.

"Hiya, Sonic! Need somethin'?"

"Get Espio for me, will you?" Sonic tapped his foot as he spoke.

"Sure thing!"

"'Kay, thanks."

About a minute passed before the purple chameleon came to the door. "Long time no see," he said with a nod. "I can't do any more free work or our house will turn into a cardboard box. What do you want?"

"I need to bust Tails out of jail," Sonic said. "You'd better not believe he's actually a criminal," he added when Espio failed to say anything.

"What do you need me for, then?"

"I don't need _you, _but I do need one of your blades. They're pretty strong, right?"

"If you're asking if they're strong enough to break through steel jail bars, then I have a few that are… but they're expensive and a little more than just valuable to me. Sorry, but you'll have to ask someone else." Espio told him.

"How 'bout a collateral, then?" Sonic asked.

"Maybe. What kind of collateral?"

"Give me your strongest shuriken, and if it gets damaged or I don't bring it back—" Sonic held out ten one-hundred dollar bills, "—then you can keep this."

"One thousand dollars? Where did you get this kind of money?"

"I've had it saved over the years. I just never have a need to use it. All I have to do is walk into a restaurant to get free food… people know me."

"Freeloader," Espio muttered under his breath.

"I try not to be," Sonic said honestly. "That chilidog joint down the street there… they don't even _let _me pay anything. Not even a tip."

Espio grinned. "I'll go get the shuriken, and you can keep it in exchange for this. I have plenty of others. We need this money."

Sonic shrugged. He knew they needed the money. "Fine. But it'd better be a good one for this price."

"It will." Espio promised him. He walked back inside and returned some twenty seconds later with a smooth, platinum-colored disc. It had three sharp blades protruding from it and was curved downward ever so slightly, sort of like the curve on the edge of a Frisbee.

"Nice."

"It's shaped the way it is so that it'll loop back towards you. Don't let the blades hit you." Espio then explained how to hold it, throw it, and catch it without getting hurt.

"Got it," Sonic said. He tested it once by throwing it off into the distance, and as Espio had said, it rode the wind in a circle back towards him. Sonic caught it smoothly, the blade not coming within an inch of slicing him. "I'm a quick learner," he said with a wink. "See you around, Espio – I'm outta here."

Sonic turned around and broke into a speedy jog down the road. He knew where the jail was from here, and it wasn't far.

_I'm heading back into the ruined part of the city, _Sonic thought to himself. _This is terrible. I've never seen so much damage done to this area in my life…_

"—Ow!" The hedgehog yelped suddenly. He slowed his pace and limped over to the curb. "Note to self: watch out for broken glass!" He sat down and lifted up his left foot, where a sharp fragment was firmly implanted in the arch. An attempt to ease it out proved to be painful, as the fragment stubbornly remained in its position. Letting out a groan of irritation, Sonic gave it a forceful yank, ripping more skin but managing to pull the sliver out of his foot. Blood dripped onto the ground.

"This isn't glass," he said, examining the piece of material cautiously. He wiped it off on his fur, but the blood from his foot had stained it. He did know, though, that it was a rare yet familiar type of steel – he just couldn't place his finger on it. He shrugged and dropped it on the ground next to him, then stood up and limped back out into the street, not bothering to look around for cars - in this mess, there wouldn't be cars going by any time soon.

"Wait, there are more of them," Sonic noticed, placing a hand on his chin thoughtfully. He dropped to one knee and picked up a particularly interesting piece of the steel. It was large, smooth, and had fuzzy yellow fabric on one side. "Ohhh," Sonic said as realization dawned. "It was no ordinary imposter – this was the work of Eggman."

It was obvious. Who else was made of metal, aside from Eggman's robots? Who else had yellow fur, aside from Tails?

"I should have known. This is just another pathetic attempt to beat me." Sonic grinned. "Now all I have to do is find a way to prove this to everyone else – but first, I need to save Tails." Sonic began a not-so-fast jog, leaving behind bloody footprints as he finished his short journey to the jail.

"Oh yeah, forgot about the barbwire fence," Sonic stated to himself upon approaching the prison. There was no way he could jump or even spin dash that high. The hedgehog looked around wonderingly. There had to be a way in.

_Of course there's a way in… but they're not going to make it easy for outsiders like me to do that. Maybe these ruined buildings could help me, though…_

Sonic nodded to himself as he spotted a fallen building leaning against another, making about a forty-five degree angle. That was _perfect_! He knew exactly what to do.

"Heh, heh… this is going to be fun," Sonic said as he started towards the building in question.

The blur jumped in the air and landed on what used to be the side of it, then curled up in a ball and began spinning in place. He gradually got faster and faster until he was rotating at top speed, then let himself rocket forward at two hundred miles per hour up the building. At the top, he soared off it like a motorcyclist would soar off a dirt ramp, breaking every law of gravity in the book. Then Sonic began spinning in mid-air again, this time curving his body to the right at the same time. Like Espio's shuriken had done earlier, he sliced through the air and curved towards the fence, clearing the top of it easily and slamming his feet on the ground on the other side only seconds later.

"What a ride. I should do that again some time!" Sonic exclaimed, breathing heavily.

"Well, that's half of the battle. Now I just have to get inside. Oh yeah, I have this handy blade!" Sonic tossed Espio's weapon in his hand playfully and decided to break down the door in his way. "Let's hope I can do this right!"

Sonic held the blade vertically in front of his face, lining it up with the area on the door he wanted to hit. Then he thrust the weapon swiftly, and it hit like a dart right in the middle of the door. A satisfying crack was heard as the wooden barrier split down the middle and collapsed.

"Nice!" Sonic said, walking forward and yanking it out of the wood. "They make this _way _too easy."

"Hey, what's this stupid freak think he's doin' here?" Came a voice from a nearby cell.

Sonic turned to face the owner of the voice: a tall, dark-skinned man who looked to be at least three hundred pounds. "What did you call me?" The hedgehog asked, almost too pleasantly. He wasn't the least bit intimidated – after all, these people _were _behind bars.

"Ya heard me, you son of a—"

"Hey, you seen a young fox in here anywhere?" Sonic interrupted.

"Maybe I have, but wha' makes ya think I'm gonna tell you where he is?"

"Have you, or haven't you?" Sonic repeated, his voice adopting a deadly undertone.

"Yeah, but I ain't tellin' you nothin'."

"Oh, but you are," Sonic said quietly. "Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. You tell me where he is, and I will slice your cell in half. You don't tell me, and I'll slice _you _in half. How's that sound?" Sonic said, spinning the shuriken on his fingertip.

"He's on the second floor, in one o' the first cells. Now let me outta here!" He demanded.

"Are you sure? If he's not there, you're paying the price." Sonic warned.

"He's there, now bust me out."

"Nah, not today. See ya, pal!" Sonic winked and headed for the stairs. "Talk about gullible," he said to himself as he made his way up the stairs. As soon as he reached the top, he could see his friend behind the bars of the first cell, curled up in the furthermost corner.

"Hey, Tails!"

"S—Sonic?" Tails asked timidly. He stood up and walked up towards him.

"Tails! There you are," Sonic said as he placed his hands on the bars of Tails' cell. "Man, if I'd have been able to come with you, you wouldn't even be in here. I'm going to get you out, though."

"You… are? But when?"

"Right here and right now. Step back!"

Tails did so. Sonic revealed the shuriken and smirked, then raised it high above his head before slicing it through the bars at a downward angle. He repeated this again so that there was an 'x' on the cell, then gave the center of it a forceful blow with his foot. Chunks of metal went flying, but fortunately, none of them hit Tails.

"Let's go, Tails!" Sonic said. The fox nodded obediently and ran toward his friend.

But that would have been too easy.

As soon as Tails crossed the area where the cell's bars had been, there was a deafening, siren-like sound and red lights on the ceiling lit up and began to spin. Tails froze.

"Come on, Tails! And don't stop! We have to get out quick!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Tails said, acting immediately and spinning his namesakes behind him to accelerate. "If you go up those stairs, maybe we can get on the very top of the jail! Hopefully there's not much security up there!" Tails hollered. "I'll fly us up!"

"Okay, just follow me!" Sonic called back, looking over his shoulder. He poured on more speed and rushed up the next set of stairs, Tails right at his heels.

"Sonic, do you think you can bust out the side of the jail at the end of this hallway?"

"Sure thing, bro!" Sonic tumbled over in mid-step and began rolling forward as quickly as he could. If this spin dash couldn't break through the wall, he was going to have a few new bruises – and most likely some bent spikes. "Here it _goes!_" Sonic increased his speed and braced for impact, and milliseconds later he blasted through the wall like it was paper. Bricks and other debris went flying. He allowed his spin dash to stop, then slowly began falling through the outside air.

It was evident that that alarm system worked fast – there were security robots everywhere below them.

"Ta_ils!_"

"I gotcha, Sonic!" The fox responded, grabbing his friend by the wrists. After a few seconds, they were ascending at a speedy pace towards the top of the prison. "Oh no, there _are _robots up here!" Tails said fearfully.

"It's okay, go ahead and land! There aren't nearly as many as there are on the ground."

The fox did so quickly – his tails were cramping up from the frantic flying.

"You take a break, I'll handle these guys!" Sonic said. "Then you have to fly us over the fence."

"All right," Tails answered, reaching around and massaging the tail on his left.

With knees bent and hands in tense fists, the blue hedgehog eyed the dozens of robots approaching him. Then, before any of them could take a strike, he whipped the shuriken to his left at an angle. At the speed of a bullet, it circled around the robots, slicing through the outermost ones like a hot knife through butter before finishing its journey back to Sonic's right hand.

"This thing is amazing!"

"Wow, nice one, Sonic!" Tails told him. "Where'd you get that? From Espio?"

Sonic turned to face his friend. "Yeah – a little on the pricy side, but it looks like it may be worth it!" Sonic replied smartly.

"Sonic, behind you!"

Without turning around, Sonic quickly adjusted his grip on the shuriken and slammed it behind him. He heard the convincing sound of metal piercing metal, followed by the static of failing electricity. He withdrew the blade and blew across one tip of it humorously.

"Can you fly okay now? That was a nice save you made earlier."

"Yeah, I'm fine. That just made my tails a little tired, 's all. I'm ready to go if you are!"

Sonic pretended to consider as he looked back at the remaining robots. "Heh, yeah, let's go."

Tails twisted his namesakes together tightly and released, causing them to spin around and around in the opposite direction. He rose into the air a few seconds later, then looked down at his blue friend. "Sonic?"

"Hm?" He asked as he reached up and grabbed Tails' wrists. Tails lifted him off the ground and began drifting forward.

"Thanks for saving me. I know it seems automatic to you, but I really wanted to get out of there."

"Not a problem, you know that," Sonic answered. "I'd have been there faster if I could."

"I don't think anyone could have done that faster than you just did," Tails said, ascending a bit higher to avoid hitting the fence. A few moments passed in silence before Tails' keen sense of hearing picked up on the sound of spinning blades – and they weren't his own. "Oh, no… Sonic, behind us!" Tails shouted, turning his head.

"Where the heck did _that _come from!" Sonic said as he looked over his shoulder at a helicopter. Two police officers were inside it – he recognized them from earlier. One was the female cop that had directed him to come with them. The other was the short-tempered one.

"They must have had them behind the jail…" Tails said. "What should I do? That thing can fly way faster than I can!"

"Great!" Sonic said, ignoring Tails' question. "Now we're both in trouble with the law. Land somewhere, fast!"

Tails did, on a rather tall building not too far below them. He released Sonic's hands and then landed next to him. The helicopter was still nearing. "Is it going to land way up _here_?"

"It looks like it, Tails!" Sonic said. The wind from the blades of the helicopter was blowing his quills out in all directions. "And that's a big mistake on their part!" He grinned.

"You're not going to hurt them, are you?" Tails asked, concern in his eyes.

"Nah. This is just another misunderstanding – they'll get it eventually. I'm going to hurt their 'copter, though."

As the aircraft slowed for a landing, Sonic jumped up and curled into a spin dash, then slammed into the bottom of it forcefully and ricocheted back towards the building top. He landed and paused only briefly; the aircraft had taken damage and was falling right towards him. "Whoa," he said, dashing out of the way.

Finally, the helicopter landed harshly on top of the building, and flames began to take it over. Thankfully, Sonic could see both officers getting out without problems. He ran back over to Tails. "They can't chase us if they don't have anything to chase us in," he said with a shrug. "Now get us out of here before we draw more attention."

Tails nodded and took to the air again, grabbing hold of Sonic as he did. "Where we goin'?"

"Back to the workshop. I want to see if any of your inventions will help us out with something I found earlier."

"What's that?" Tails asked.

"I'll let you know when we get there… but I think I know who shot me."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So…" That was the first word out of Tails' mouth when Sonic finished explaining his theory.

"What I'm saying is, I think Eggman somehow created something that looks like you to hurt me, that way he could try and frame you. Seeing how that didn't work, he's probably thinking up something else right now." Sonic explained.

"And you're saying that this piece of metal is a broken shard of that creation?" Tails asked, eyeing the mysterious slab in question. "I guess it makes sense…"

"Exactly. What I was wondering, is, do you have something that could tell us that for sure?"

"I think I have the perfect thing!" The fox exclaimed. "I've never used it before, so I don't know how well it'll work… but I've had it for years. It analyzes whatever you want it to, and tells you its properties. It saves what it examines on a hard drive and is then able to track more of the same element or compound if it's within a ten mile radius."

"Sounds great!" Sonic said. "What do ya say we go try it out now?"

"Okay, just follow me downstairs," Tails said, leading the way to the lab. Sonic walked down the stairs behind him.

"Which one is it?" He asked, eyeing all the machines around him.

"That one over there," Tails said, walking in the direction of his pointed finger. "It just looks like a high-tech computer, but if you look at it closer, there's a slot to put whatever material you want to know more about inside."

"Dang, for a seven-year-old kid, you sure know how to make a lot of stuff. I've known that for a while now, but it still seems amazing."

"Heh, thanks!" Tails said, rubbing one arm shyly.

"Anytime. Here's the metal." Sonic handed him the sample and Tails inserted it into the slot.

"Okay, here we go… it says it's an unusual compound made in part with palladium, a very strong type of metal that can absorb _nine hundred_ times its volume in hydrogen – and the other primary element being iridium, an extremely rare metal that is corrosion-resistant to almost all of the elements."

"English, please?"

Tails rolled his eyes. "It's nearly unbreakable, won't rust, and can absorb a lot of hydrogen. Looks like water won't deactivate it like it would most robots."

"How did it break, then?" Sonic asked.

Tails shrugged.

"Well, we'll figure that out later. Can you track down more of this?"

"Mm-hmm… just give it a minute to search the area…wait, looks like it's detecting some already." Tails told him.

"Where?" Sonic asked, leaning in towards the computer screen.

"A few miles away, out by the jail." Tails replied.

"Eh, that's where I found this one. It's probably just more little pieces."

"Well, there's a fair amount of it in the forest near the ruins," Tails said. "All in one place, too, and moving at the same time."

"You think we found what we're looking for?"

"Let me zoom in just to make sure."

"Wow, you can do that? How?" Sonic inquired.

"Satellites," Tails said simply. "This is as far as I can zoom. I can sorta make out its shape… it definitely has limbs… and large ears, too… Wow, Sonic, I think you're exactly right!"

"You mean it's really another one of Eggman's creations?"

"Yeah! I think he's gettin' smarter, too… he combined the right types of metals to make a pretty strong robot."

"Hey, Tails!" Sonic said, pointing at the screen. "It's not done analyzing yet. Look, it says that there's some source of high energy flowing throughout the metal."

Tails froze and allowed his mouth to hang open slightly.

"You okay, bud?" Sonic asked, clearly amused by the look on the fox's face.

"It's too late already…" He whispered. Tears filled his eyes.

"Hey now, what's this about?" Sonic said, his smile fading.

"The Emeralds," Tails breathed to himself, remembering his premonition.

"So? We've had problems with the Chaos Emeralds before," Sonic said as he placed a hand on Tails' shoulder.

"No. _The _Emeralds." Tails repeated.

Sonic removed his hand from Tails' shoulder and was silent.

_No. Please tell me I'm wrong. Not that. Not that. _"Is it a Super Emerald?" Sonic asked slowly.

A single nod of the head. Sonic took a moment to take it all in, to realize what was happening.

"Three Super Emeralds. Inside that robot. If we don't find the rest, then we're done for."

"Well…" Sonic said, getting over his shock. "I guess we'll just have to go find 'em! _And _him."

"No, Sonic. You're not going to follow that robot, are you?" Tails pleaded.

"What other choice do we have? If he's looking for Super Emeralds and we follow, we'll have a better chance of finding them, or at least keeping him from finding them."

"Sonic, _please!_" Tails begged. "If he catches us, we're dead! _Three Super Emeralds!_"

"I know, bud, but we're going to have to face him eventually anyway. It's inevitable – that's why Eggman created him."

"But—"

"C'mon, let's hurry it up. Every moment wasted is a moment he could be getting closer to the other Emeralds." Without waiting for an answer, Sonic turned away from Tails and darted up the stairs.

"Wait, Sonic! I'm… I'm coming…" Tails said nervously. "Ugh. Why does this always happen to us?"

**Longest chapter so far in this story. Please review :)**


	5. Chapter 5: Hall of Flames

**Before I forget to bring this up, remember how, at the beginning of this story, I said how in MY little world, Tails CAN transform with the Chaos Emeralds and the Super Emeralds as well? Well, for that reason, I'm calling Tails' transformation with the Super Emeralds 'Hyper Tails' instead of 'Super Tails', just like Sonic and Knuckles go Hyper. I just wanted to mention that now since there's a reference to S3&K in this chapter.**

**Anyway, this is a chapter of this series I've been looking forward to typing since about the end of Capture the Fox… so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed typing it! I think you will. :)**

CHAPTER 5: Hall of Flames

"Looks like he got bored of Station Square and decided to tear down the forest instead," Sonic said sourly. "What a mess."

"This is really bad, Sonic. Do we have to keep goin'?"

"If we don't find him, he's going to find us eventually," Sonic said. "So, how far is he from here?"

"I brought the portable property-analyzer, just le' me turn it on," Tails said. "And… it looks like he's not far off at all. He'll be within seeing range soon, I think."

"You sure we're going the right way? I don't see anything up there."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Tails said, looking up from the analyzer. "Look, a little off to the right… there's a really tall building beyond those trees. I think he's in there somewhere."

Without warning, Sonic gripped Tails' hand and sped towards the building in question.

"Whoa! Slow down, Sonic!" Tails shouted.

"Okay!" He replied as he stopped. They were a short distance from the apparent entrance of the building.

"That was really fast!"

"Yeah, I usually am," Sonic joked.

"No, I mean as fast as you used to go!" The fox exclaimed. "Are your legs completely better, now?"

Sonic chuckled. "I guess they are, Tails! Heh, I forgot about that!"

Tails beamed. "That makes me feel a lot better! 'Least now we'll be able to outrun him."

"With three Super Emeralds inside of him… I don't know…" Sonic said, pretending to be worried.

Tails gasped. "You don't think he's _that _fast, do ya'?"

"Of course not, I was only kiddin'. You know I can outrun _anything,_" Sonic said. He jogged forward, grinning, and promptly fell into a ditch directly in front of the building. Tails burst out laughing.

"Yeah, anything besides the ground!" The amused fox managed to say through his mirth. He was struggling to inhale oxygen.

"Hmph," Sonic muttered, cheeks turning a light pink. He was sorely tempted to pull Tails into the ditch with him and splash him in the muddy water, but instead pulled himself back onto firm ground and stood up.

"Hehe, sorry," Tails said, smiling apologetically. "You okay?"

"I am _now,_" Sonic replied as he purposely ruffled Tails' bangs with one muddy hand.

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"You're right, it's not, is it?" Sonic said with a grin. "I should shove you in that mess – then it'll be fair!"

"I don't want to get dirty!" The fox protested. Sonic chuckled pleasantly.

"All right, you win. Let's go in, now." Sonic walked around the ditch, followed closely by his two-tailed companion, and walked inside. Interestingly enough, there was water all over the floor. Neither of them thought much of it.

"It looks like a giant, pipe-like waterslide," Tails said. As they continued to walk, the rectangular shape of their path smoothed out into a flat oval about thirty feet across. The surface they were walking on had no slope, but they could tell it would get steeper up ahead. "Do you think this path spirals all the way to the top?"

"There's only one way to find out," Sonic said. He broke into a slow-paced jog so that Tails could keep up. "I'm thinking coming back down will be a lot more interesting than going up – it _does _look like a water slide. Careful not to slip, 'cause you'll probably have a hard time getting back up if you start falling back down to the bottom." Sonic winked.

"I have tails, remember? I don't think getting back up will be a problem. I'm just hoping there won't be too many problems up _there_."

"Me, too. Not much we can do about it, though."

Tails didn't respond. He was dreading getting to the top – with a passion. For a few minutes, he remained silent, wondering if the Super Emeralds were going to be as powerful as he remembered them being back when he and Sonic first transformed with them to bring down the Death Egg.

He hoped not.

That transformation had been one of the most unpleasant experiences of his life. Of course, it felt wonderful once he was _in_ his Hyper form, but the battle before it was intense and painful. Trying to absorb that much power was overwhelming.

Right now, though, he wouldn't have to worry about transformation… but he _did _have to worry about facing something being powered by the Super Emeralds. That wasn't much of an improvement.

"It's getting steeper and steeper," Tails said finally, taking to the air for the time being. "Want me to fly you for a little while?"

"Nah, I'm good for now," Sonic said.

"I wonder how high this thing is… I couldn't even see the top of it above the trees earlier."

"I think I'm better off not knowing," Sonic commented. "Is that robot still in here?"

"Hold on… yeah, as far as I can tell. I think he'd have to come down to get out, so if he's planning on leaving I think we'll know.

"Unless he has tails just like you do," Sonic added.

"Didn't think of that…" Tails admitted. "Man, speaking of that, my tails are starting to cramp up again."

"We can take a break if you want to," Sonic said.

"Nah, let's keep going."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I'd better tell Sonic and Tails about this," Knuckles confirmed with himself as he stared down at the single Super Emerald in his hand. It was grey and lifeless. "I can't believe Eggman managed to snag three before they scattered. Who knows where the other three are."

Knuckles started down the steps, then abruptly turned around and went back up, stopping in front of the Master Emerald. "If I'm going to leave this shrine, I should take this with me. I don't trust that it won't get stolen – especially with Eggman around again."

Knuckles closed his eyes and put one hand out in front of him, palm facing up. Slowly, he raised it, causing the Master Emerald to ascend. In a few seconds, it had shrunk to fit in Knuckles' large hand perfectly. "There. I'm glad I figured out how to do that," he said to himself. It certainly made transporting the Emerald from place to place easier.

The powerful echidna took a running start and leaped from the shrine with his arms in front of him. His dreadlocks caught the wind and he drifted forward.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I think we're almost there, Tails. You hanging in there?" Sonic asked, looking over his shoulder. The only part of the young fox that was moving were his spinning tails – the rest of his body was hanging rather limply in the air.

"Yeah… hanging in there… literally…"

They had been inside the spiral building for well over half of an hour, continuously walking up a relentlessly steep path.

"I'm tired too, bro. It can't be too much farther, though – it's starting to get flatter again."

"Phew, finally!" Tails breathed. He let himself sink back to the floor and walked instead. He had been switching from flight to feet over and over since they began the long hike.

"Shh, shh, shh," Sonic hushed his friend. "I hear something not too far from here. As soon as we round this curve…"

"Oh man, are we that close to him?"

"_Shh!_ We're very close. Stop walking – I'll go up there and check." Sonic told him.

"Wait a minute!" Tails whispered.

"What?"

Tails gulped. "Why don't you let me go check? I'll be able to avoid being spotted easier because I can go up in the air!"

Sonic hesitated. "Okay, but if he comes anywhere near you, get outta there."

"No duh. I haven't even gone in and I'm ready to get out – don't worry," Tails assured him. He took a deep breath, letting it out very slowly to avoid making noise. He rotated his tails just fast enough to get him in the air, glanced back at Sonic, and leaned forward into his flight, keeping close to the inside of the path. As he continued forward, he was able to see around the curved wall.

Before him was a room, about the size of a large backyard. The walls were flat and smooth with a chromium coating. Around the edges of the room were unusual looking gold and brown robots, some of them sporting an eye color not too dissimilar from Tails'. They were no taller than Tails' shoulder, but they looked threatening, with those blades fingers. It wasn't difficult to tell that they were just plain, ordinary robots, though.

In the nearest corner of the room was what appeared to be a giant computer – at least six feet tall, the monitor taking up half of that height. Tails wondered what it was used for, but then noticed an electronic sketch of himself and Sonic on the screen – exactly as they appeared now. Someone had been watching them.

Tails failed to notice the pair of eyes watching him from just behind the computer.

He backed off and turned towards Sonic again, landing as he did so. "I didn't see anything too suspicious 'sides those deactivated robots. But that doesn't make sense… my analyzer is still confirming the palladium-iridium metal to be in this room."

"Let's both go in. If nothing bad happened yet, hopefully nothing will." Sonic walked around the wall hiding the two of them and made himself present in the room, walking to the center of it before looking over his shoulder at the large computer. Tails stayed close. "You're right, Tails. But… I can't help but wonder if—_AHH!_"

Out of nowhere, an orange streak rocketed at Sonic and slammed him into a cluster of deactivated robots – and _hard. _

"Ergh—what was—_umph!!_" Sonic was cut off as a blow to the torso threw him into another robot, which he crashed through and then slammed into the back wall.

"Sonic!" Tails ran and skidded to a halt in next to his injured friend, dropping to one knee and shaking him gently. "Sonic, are you okay? Please don't be hurt…"

"Can't… get up…" He managed to speak after coughing up blood.

"Oh, no! How bad are you hurt?"

"Look… out… he's still in here!"

Tails nodded and stood up straight again, looking around. _Please, please, don't hurt Sonic again… _He begged inwardly.

"Okay, I won't."

"What!?" Tails shrieked. A split second later, a hard uppercut sent him hurling at the ceiling, where he made painful contact and fell back to the ground.

"I'll hurt you for a while, though."

"Who _are _you!?"

Their enemy stopped his blurred movements and landed only a mere few feet in front of where Tails lay helpless on the ground. He was dropped on one knee, resting an elbow on the other. "What you see is what you get," He answered.

_It really IS a robot look alike! _Tails thought fearfully. It didn't even _look _like a robot, with that yellow-orange fabric covering the metal – it was so perfected that it looked exactly like Tails. Well, almost exactly; one of its two tails wasn't covered by anything. It looked like a sharp, bent blade – and it looked threatening.

_Somehow… it can tell what I'm thinking… why?_

"Tails, remember when?" The robot responded. "You don't remember Eggman cutting you on the Black Hawk? Putting that device inside your arm wasn't the only reason he did that. No, he had a back-up plan. _I _am that back-up plan."

Tails was speechless.

"Slow on the uptake, my twin?"

"Don't call me that, idiot!" Tails snapped, then realized his mistake and covered his mouth. "I'm… I'm sorry," he said fearfully.

The metallic Tails took his hand off his knee and stood up to full height. "No worries – I have a patient temper for insults. _Just like you._ Besides, I have _better _reasons to hurt you."

"How do you know my thoughts?" Tails said, struggling to back away from his mirror-image.

"Your blood, Tails… it flows within the source of my power…"

Realization commenced in Tails' mind. "He used my blood inside of you… because it contains my DNA… my personal make-up… that _bastard!_" Once again, Tails quickly covered his mouth, cursing at himself inwardly. It was inevitable that he was going to be hurt again though, and it was going to happen before he was too much older.

"I was created to kill you, Tails. For the purpose of revenge. But Doctor Eggman gave me permission to make it fun." The robot said malignantly. "By the way, you don't really need… _two _tails, do you?"

Tails' stomach churned; he felt sick. "Neither… do you…"

In a flash, Tails' double had its damaged namesake to the real Tails' throat. "I don't have two, not since the metallic cover from one of them shattered. Now one of them is a _blade…_"

_At least now we know where that chunk of metal Sonic had came from…_

"Don't stab me," Tails whispered, eyes closed.

"I was never planning on it. But like I said, you don't need them _both…_"

Tails shook his head and tried to tell him to stop, but he couldn't find the words. The feeling of the robot's fuzzy hand on his left tail sent a chill down his spine.

But out of his peripheral vision, he could see Sonic preparing to spin dash.

_Thank God…_

Before Tails' clone could go any further, the blue blur had crashed into the side of his head with enough force to throw him across the floor. Without waiting to see if he would get back up (they both knew he would), Sonic picked Tails up and heaved him over his shoulder, already making a mad dash towards the spiral hallway which had lead them here. He was as terrified as Tails.

As soon as his foot hit the water that was still covering the hallway floor, he slipped and fell on his rear, accidentally letting go of Tails in the process. "Tails!" He hollered. "You okay?" Sonic got up and scrambled over to his friend, helping him to his feet.

"I'm fine, now… I couldn't move before, though. I was so scared… couldn't even move…"

"This is sad," Tails' clone said, watching the two of them. Sonic and Tails were silent as they watched him walk over to the nearest deactivated robot and slice it in half.

"What's he doing?" Tails whispered.

The two halves of the robot promptly blew up. Debris from it scattered outwards in all directions, most chunks on fire from the explosion. Tails' look alike picked up a particularly large piece with several small flames ascending from the top of it and started towards them.

Terrible realization dawned, and Tails turned to his blue friend nervously.

"Sonic?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"This 'water' isn't water, is it?"

"No, it's not."

"Before you die, I guess you have the right to know my name…" The metallic Tails dropped the chunk of flaming metal in the gasoline a few feet from them and it erupted in a huge flame. "Call me Zorro… if you ever get the chance…"

"_Run, _Tails!" Sonic shouted, grabbing Tails' wrist and racing away from the flames. "These puddles of gasoline we're running on… the fire's going to keep growing because of all this gas!" He looked over his shoulder. "It's growing fast, Tails! It's heading right towards us! Whatever you do, don't _stop!_"

"I'm not, Sonic! Keep going, I can keep up by spinning my tails!" Tails shouted back. Sonic released his hand and they both continued to run.

"I can feel the heat!" Sonic hollered.

"So can I! I hope we can get out of here fast enough! But what if there's more gasoline outside, too?"

"Then we're dead! But don't think bad thoughts like that, you're going to give your duplicate ideas!"

Tails' eyes became wide and fearful. No matter what he thought, his clone would know because they both had the same genetic structure. _I hate DNA…_

"This would be a lot more fun if I didn't feel like I was trying to escape a volcano!" Sonic retorted.

"Sonic, the tips of my tails are scorching!"

"Grab my hand, I'm going to speed up!" Sonic commanded. Tails did so, and he poured on the speed.

"It's still growing right behind us, Sonic!"

"I promise you we are _going to make it!_" Sonic shouted. "Just twirl those tails as fast as you can!"

"Can't you go faster than this?" Tails asked frantically.

"No, if I trip, there's no chance of getting out of here alive! We're almost to the bottom, though!"

"There's going to be even more gas gathered at the bottom of this thing because it's been slowly dripping down this giant spiral!"

"We're almost to that point, Tails. As soon as we are, as soon as the ground is flat, then I'll go as fast as I can and hope for the best!"

"Ah! I'm going to have a few new burns tomorrow!"

"Hold on tight, here I go!"

"Whoooaaaaaa_aaaaaahh!!_"

"Hold _ON!_" Sonic repeated.

"I'm trying, Sonic! You're going so fast!"

The world around them and the fire behind them was a blur, but Tails could see the light of day not too far ahead. "Sonic, look out for the ditch in front of this place!"

"Look out for it? That ditch is going to save our lives!" Sonic hollered back. They were almost there… they'd be out in a matter of seconds…

"What do you mean?" Tails asked. Sonic had no time to answer the question – the end of the giant pipe was mere yards away.

"_Get DOWN!_" Sonic reached behind him and put one arm around Tails, then jumped forward with all his strength and slammed them both down into the ditch. Not three seconds later, the roaring fire blasted out over them.

"AHH! It's _hot!_ _Soniiiiicc!!"_

"You're okay, you don't have any burns! It's just the heat buddy, shake it off!"

Sonic moved over to cover the back of Tails' head with his arms. He could feel the heat singeing the tips of his quills, but knew he could handle it better than Tails probably could.

"Are you okay, Sonic?" Tails said loudly over the roaring fire.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine! Just stay down… I think the fire's starting to die down a little!"

Sonic took his hands off Tails' head and rolled over on his side, pressing his quills against the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief as the burning feeling died away, along with the fire behind and around them. It was almost safe to get up again, but the fire would prevent them from getting out of the ditch anyway.

It was a good thing there was water in that ditch, otherwise the fire probably would have spread down there, too. Fortunately, the heat only got far enough to irritate the skin – and maybe char a little fur, but that was nothing major.

Sonic turned to lay on his back and looked up at the fire around them. It was a safe distance away. He sat up and wiped the mud off his body, then sat Tails off and wiped him off as well. "Guess we're even now, eh?" He said, referring to his accident in the ditch earlier. He was satisfied to see Tails chuckle. "Tails, the heat's not so bad anymore, but the fire is still surrounding us. Think you can stand up and fly us outta here?"

The fox pushed himself to his feet. "I'll try," He said. He grabbed Sonic's wrist with both hands and twisted his namesakes around each other, then released, allowing them to spin quickly. He was able to pull them both into the air, out of the ditch, and ultimately, above the fire.

"Great, Tails!"

"Thanks. I'm goin' back to the workshop… it hurts…"

"What's wrong?"

"You mean you're not hurt from what _he _did?"

"Yeah, I'm a little sore, but not too bad. But I've been tossed around rooms a lot more than you have." Sonic reminded him.

"No, this wasn't just a toss, Sonic – he really hurt me… were your eyes open to see his fist hit my chin? It threw me at the ceiling, and my head hit it… I'm surprised I didn't get a concussion or somethin'… and it sprained my neck…"

"Whoa, Tails, you need to land, now!" Sonic said, noticing how slurred Tails' voice was. "Don't worry, we're plenty far from the fire."

"M'kay," Tails agreed. He slowed his tails immediately and fell towards the ground. Once close enough, he released Sonic and collapsed on the ground next to him. "Wha' if Zorro comes after us…?" He whispered, eyes closing.

"You have to stay awake, bro," Sonic said, lifting the fox's head off the ground. It was no use, though – Tails was out like a light.


	6. Chapter 6: Confirmed Premonitions

**The last chapter got somewhat violent in comparison to my other stories and chapters. This chapter is like that even more so. Also, something… strange happens in this chapter, so be prepared for it. Take notice of the second genre of this story in comparison to the other two – there's a reason it's that way. **

CHAPTER 6: Confirmed Premonitions

"Tails! _Tails!_" Sonic shook his friend quickly, but not violently. "Are you still awake? Tails!"

Sonic dropped to his knees and pressed the side of his head against Tails' chest. He waited.

_I hear his heartbeat, _he thought to himself. "He's just passed out… good thing. I'm afraid to pick him up, though. What if he really is injured badly?"

He considered taking Tails back to the workshop, where they could be safe for a while. He wondered if maybe he should take him for medical attention. Or he could just stay here and wait for the fox to wake up.

Fighting an inner battle with himself for the better part of a minute, Sonic finally decided to remain where he was and wait for Tails to wake up. If the fox _did _have neck injuries like he claimed, he didn't want to worsen things.

After a few moments, it began to rain – which was rather convenient, actually. It would put out the rest of the fire behind him. The hedgehog made himself comfortable in the leaves, not taking his hand off Tails' wrist. For some reason, he had an intuition that Tails' life could be in danger, and he wanted to make sure he could feel his friend's pulse.

His intuition would turn out to be correct – but not in the way he thought it would be.

It was after a few minutes that he heard a stick snap behind him, and not too far either. He whipped his head around and jumped to his feet instinctively.

No one was there.

"Metal Tails, if you're going to show yourself, cut the bullcrap and do it."

His reply was the sound of spinning blades, but he noticed it just too late. "My name is Zorro!" As Sonic looked up, the half-fox's feet met his face and pushed him to the ground. The blue blur used the momentum to back-flip, flinging Zorro off him before he got the chance to pin him down. He landed firmly on his feet.

"I don't know what Eggman was thinking when he put those Super Emeralds inside you, but I feel like I'm being underestimated again," Sonic said, tapping his foot. "I mean, c'mon, what's his deal with you _robots_? Doesn't he know by now that it doesn't work?"

"I'm not only a robot," Zorro reminded him. "Don't you get it? I am part robot, part Tails. His DNA is inside me. I have the blood of a real fox. I have a mind _almost_ of my own, only shared by my counterpart."

"Then why do you want to kill us?"

"I'll answer that question for the sole purpose that I have no reason to fear you using this information against me – because you'll be dead long before you have a chance to do that. My master only activated the dark powers of the Super Emeralds inside me – which means, although I think like Tails, my ambitions are darker."

"Don't you want to be free, though? Don't you want a mind of your own? If you allow yourself to stop drawing on the Super Emeralds for power, then you'll be…" Sonic paused as shocking realization hit home.

"I'll be an exact copy of Tails. I will never have a mind of my own. I will never be unique." For a second, Sonic swore he saw sadness in those blue eyes. "But either way, thinking like him is an advantage… I can see his thoughts…" Zorro went on, snickering malevolently.

"Which means he can see yours! So what's the point of all this?"

"It'd be difficult for him to see my thoughts… the Super Emeralds don't only protect me physically, they protect me mentally."

Sonic gasped.

"That's right. Even if he did have the chance to see my thoughts… even if I had my guard down… he'd never be able to stop me… So as long as I have a special uniqueness from the Super Emeralds, I want to keep it. I want this power – and you're feeble talk-me-out-of-it attempts won't change that."

Sonic folded his arms. "You're just as stubborn as Tails, too. Just not in a way that I like." With that, he thrust himself forward at Zorro as if to tear him to shreds – but before he had a chance to attack, the fox had grabbed his arm and began spinning him around in wild circles.

"Hmph. You gave yourself right to me. You submitted. Why are you giving up already?" Zorro asked, spinning faster and faster. Sonic felt like his shoulder was going to pop out of its socket. He closed his eyes tight, preparing for the pain he knew was coming.

"You're a fake," Sonic muttered. If he wasn't spinning around in wild, increasingly fast circles, he would have gestured to the real Tails. "And an original is worth more than a _copy._"

"You're so annoying, you know that?" Zorro retorted. "I'm going to let go now, causing you to slice through the air at a faster speed than you can run. You're going to **die**!!" Zorro's voice seemed to repeat itself in the wind as he released Sonic's arm.

"WHOOOOAAA_AAAAAAAAHHH!!" _Sonic's body shot through the air like a bullet towards the uppermost trees, his deafening scream bouncing off the trees and echoing dozens of times. In seconds he was gone from sight… and a sickening crack could be heard.

Zorro tittered to himself, then looked over at the limp body of his original counterpart. "I'll wait for you to wake up… that way I can see all that fear and pain in your _thoughts_ when I kill you. Even in the form you're in now, I bet you'd be more of a challenge then that blue freak. It's a wonder Eggman has struggled to beat him so many times."

As Zorro finished his sentence, another loud 'crack' rippled through the air, much like the one he had heard out of Sonic a few seconds ago.

"What was that?" He wondered aloud.

"It's called a _sonic boom_, pal!" The words were followed by a whip-like sound, then Sonic's spin dash crashed against Zorro's back, throwing him face-first into a tree.

"That's going to leave a bruise. Or should I say, a _dent_," Sonic commented smartly after landing. "And you say _I'm _slow on the uptake? You can't distinguish a sonic boom when you hear one?"

"There's no way you could have survived that…" Zorro said, confusion in his normally cold eyes.

"I wouldn't have, if I'd actually hit anything," Sonic told him. He was silent. "Still don't get it? Here, I'll show ya."

Sonic curled in a ball and sped off, then rolled to his left sharply, circling back around towards Zorro. "That's how it works – on ground, and off!" The hedgehog said proudly. But he didn't stop; he continued to rocket forward until he hit Zorro's feet, taking them out from underneath him.

"...Going to pay for that..." The metallic fox said as he pushed himself back to his feet.

"Oh, am I, though?" Sonic remarked.

"Not _you…_" Zorro started towards Tails.

"Oh, no you don't!" Sonic shouted, spin dashing towards him.

"I'm not falling for the same attack twice!" Zorro snapped, delivering a powerful kick at Sonic's curled up form as he approached. The hedgehog was forced out of his spin dash the metallic foot managed to sneak past his arm and slap against his torso, causing him to skid backwards on the rough, rocky ground. When he finally came to a halt, he brought a hand to his already bleeding chest and coughed twice, droplets of blood staining his chin.

"Ugh... you leave him alone…" Sonic groaned weakly, attempting to sit up. Failing miserably, he turned himself on his stomach and began dragging himself towards Zorro and Tails, leaving a noticeable trail of blood. "Don't touch 'im."

The hedgehog's words were ignored as Tails' evil counterpart brought one tail in front of him – the damaged, blade-like one.

"No...! Don't stab..." Sonic said as loudly and firmly as he could. His chest was throbbing and he began to wonder if his sternum had been broken.

"You're right, I should save that for last." Zorro allowed his tail to go back where it belonged, grabbed the fox around the neck to slow his breathing, then abruptly slammed a fist into Tails' abdomen.

"Tails... no..." With every ounce of strength Sonic had left, he planted one hand firmly on the ground and again attempted to push himself up.

Zorro struck again in the same area, this time harder.

Concern for his friend winning over his pride, Sonic resorted to begging. "Please don't kill him, Zorro... take me instead... please..."

Another strike – this time to the groin area. Sonic saw blood. "_STOP IT!_" Sonic demanded. He continued struggling to stand, pushing against the ground with both hands. "I'm going to kill you!"

"He'll pay for every mistake you make..." The vindictive fox reminded him.

"Tails, wake up!! Wake up, _PLEASE!!_" Sonic hollered. He wondered frantically if it was his injuries that were keeping him on the ground, or if he was petrified of what was happening.

Zorro took one of Tails' tender ears in his hands and extended his metallic nails, all the while glaring at Sonic. Then, as quickly as a syringe would go into one's arm, he jabbed one fingernail through the top of Tails' ear, creating a hole.

Sonic could only watch helplessly as Zorro continued to beat his friend nearly to death.

"Zorro…" He began after a moment. "Why can't you wait for him to wake up instead of being such a coward?"

Zorro acted as if he hadn't heard Sonic, but took Tails by one arm and flipped him over harshly.

"Stop it! What are… what are you doing to him?"

Still silent, Zorro kept his grip on Tails' arm. Sonic watched him twist his wrist around in a full circle. He heard a series of revolting cracks, then a loud 'snap' as the fox's humerus broke.

_This is unbelievable… he is so strong… I don't even know if Knuckles can break a bone that quickly… _Sonic thought.

"This would be so much more fun if you were awake, darling Tails," Zorro said to the unconscious fox. "I was going to do something else... oh yes, he only needs one of those tails..."

Sonic was tempted to holler more obscenities, but instead used his energy to continue pushing himself to his feet. Between heaves, he saw Zorro take hold of his best friend's left tail. _No... no... no... _

Sonic was finally supporting his weight with his feet again. That was half of the battle – now he just had to _move. _

One hard look at Tails' limp, bleeding body caused Sonic a sudden adrenaline rush. His eyes widened. He felt empowered.

_Go, now! You got back up, now keep moving! GO!_ A voice screamed at him – and it wasn't his conscience. Ever trusting, though, Sonic obeyed and dashed forward.

_Grab him and strike the back of his head as hard as you can! It'll cause the Super Emeralds to move around, which in turn will cause him troubles! _

As Sonic approached Zorro, he swiftly wrapped one arm around his neck and squeezed, holding him in place just long enough to punch the back of his head several times with his right hand. "I! Told! You! To! Leave! Him! A-! –Lone!" Sonic shouted in his ear, striking him on every emphasized syllable.

"You blue idiot, get off of me!" Zorro reached behind him and grabbed Sonic under the arms, then thrust him over his head. Sonic landed on the ground with a painful thud and didn't get back up.

"Oh, no... my head hurts..." Zorro said aloud. There was a static-like sound coming from his head, a sound of damaged electricity. Suddenly, the metal fox spun his tails and zoomed off.

"Who are you...?" Sonic demanded grimly to whoever had just helped him.

_You know who I am. Shall I be wrong in saying that, Tails will tell you later. _

Then all was silent except for the falling raindrops. The sudden crash of thunder snapped Sonic out of it and his head turned in Tails' direction. "Tails..." He said miserably. He dragged himself over to Tails' battered body. He was still bleeding. And he wasn't moving.

The hedgehog placed his head on his friend's chest again. A faint heartbeat was still there, but it was getting slower and slower. There was no sign of breathing. Sonic lifted his head from Tails and shook it, disbelieving that his best friend was actually going to die.

"No, not here, not now..." Sonic said, voice cracking. In the devastation of the storm, he leaned down and hugged the young fox, wondering if this would be his last time ever doing so.

"How could someone do that to you...? You never do anything to hurt anyone..."

_Not all is lost... he's not dead, yet. _

Sonic sat up abruptly. "You're back?"

_His heart still pumps blood throughout his body... however, his breath ceases. He needs to breathe again before it's too late. Help him. _

"So do I take him to the hospital?" Sonic asked.

_No – it'll be too late by then._

"Then what do I do?"

To his surprise (and anger), the voice seemed to chuckle. _It'll click in a moment… _

Heaving a sigh of despair, Sonic looked down at Tails. The little fox's life was hanging by a thread. It hadn't taken long for the hedgehog to realize what he had to do. As soon as that voice had told him it would 'click', he had understood. But...

_Go on, Sonic... I wouldn't give you crazy ideas like this if I didn't think it would work. _

"How do I know I can trust you?" Sonic asked. "How do I know you're not some clone of _me _delving into _my _mind?"

_That's what makes trust so hard to accomplish... believing what you can't see... _

Sonic nodded. The voice's words weren't needed for him to know that Tails would die within the next two minutes if he didn't do something. _So help me God, _he prayed silently.

Extremely embarrassed in spite of himself, Sonic gently pulled Tails' jaws apart with his hands and leaned down towards him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Beyond the golden orb lies _

_An object radiating before your eyes. _

_Large and diamond-shaped as it lays, _

_Only to be used by the valiant and brave. _

_More powerful than Chaos or existence itself… _

_To be used properly or cast into hell. _

_It is your enemy, it is your friend, _

_It will exist eternally; until the end. _

_There to save lives… or to kill, _

_May they be used wisely and only with will… _

_For the wrath of the seven Super is unforgiving… _

_As it is not just Chaos… it is very nearly living. _

_From inside the depths of his metallic soul, _

_Lies three of the powerful sources, full _

_Of energy, madness, cruelty, rage, _

_Devastation, ire, superiority, hate. _

_Beyond the Chaos Emeralds, there is something more… _

_Something the enemies have been looking for: _

_Ultimate power, control, and ability _

_That has no boundaries – can continue to infinity. _

_By misfortune alone, this has been found in me… _

_For I am the Master Emerald, the one that you seek. _

_I lost control as my power increased, _

_So into the Chaos Emeralds, my power released… _

_Making them the monsters that they have become. _

_At all costs, you must have at least one… _

_For if all are in the hands of your formidable foe, _

_Life as you know it may come to a close. _

_So follow me, trust me, have no qualm. _

_Keep hold of all you have left in your palm. _

_Don't give up – give all you've got_

_For if the foe succeeds, your lives will not. _

"Whoa…" Tails said to himself. "That's who you are! Why didn't you tell me you were the conscience of the Master Emerald? Am I lost in this same dream again?

_Yes. Do you understand, now? _

"Mm-hmm, totally! It's about time you cleared that up."

_Your friend Sonic was skeptical about trusting me earlier. _

"Trusting you? You didn't tell him who you really are yet?"

_I'd rather have you explain that to him – he trusts you. Right now, I think he's convinced that I'm his evil incarnation, or something. _

"You know, that actually doesn't—"

_...Doesn't sound as strange as it should? That's understandable. You have an evil incarnation._

"Yeah – that's the 'foe' you were referring to, right?"

_Of course._

"Do me a favor – stop the poetry. You're good at it and all, but it's a lot easier to understand these things in plain English." Tails said with a chuckle.

_Many parts of what I just said came from a prophecy – a prophecy about the Super Emeralds that was first spoke by an ancient echidna named Tikal. But if it makes you feel better, I will try to explain matters the way you wish to hear them. _

"So, while we're lost in this dream, what was Sonic so hesitant about, anyway?"

_This is going to be hard to tell you, Tails, but… you're hurt. Very hurt. After you passed out, you were attacked by your foe, Zorro. There was nothing Sonic could do except watch you provoke death more and more with every blow you took. He was injured, as well, but not like you. _

"Am I… Am I going to live?" Had he not been dreaming, he would have started crying.

_That I can't determine. At least, not yet. My controller is looking for you right now. He wants to tell you about the Super Emeralds transforming – but you already know. _

"You mean Knuckles?"

_Yes, Knuckles. _

"Well, why don't you tell him that?" Tails asked.

_Because I want him to come near you. He's carrying me with him, as he always does – he's afraid of damage being done to me._

"D' you two ever talk mentally like this?" Tails wondered.

_Quite frequently. I'm going to communicate to him so he takes me to you. I can help you heal. But you must wake up, first. _

"How do I do that?"

_Be patient. You have a wonderful friend on your hands – it's his air that's keeping you alive. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Come on, Tails, wake up!" Sonic begged. The fox was still not breathing on his own – Sonic's performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation was keeping him alive. Sonic pressed his palms to Tails' chest and pushed twice, then listened for a heartbeat. It was still there, but even with constant CPR, it was dying away.

_I can't sit here and listen and watch you die before my eyes, Tails,_ Sonic thought He stood up abruptly_. I just can't bring myself to do that._ Taking one last look at his best friend, Sonic turned away and ran as fast as he could, a sonic boom echoing throughout the cool evening air.

_Where are you going? _

Sonic didn't asnwer.

_You must turn back. We're his only hope. _

"I don't know who you are, but you need to know who _I _am." Sonic snapped. "I am a guy who doesn't look back on the past. I've never regretted anything, and I still don't. Nothing keeps me from being who I am, being as free as I darn well want to be. Nothing ever stops me – nothing ever makes me give up. Nothing will ever rip my determination and my persistence in half. And most of all, nothing has ever haunted me."

_Sonic, turn around… his time is drawing near… _

"…But I will be haunted by what happened today for the rest of my life. I'm not turning back. He'll be long gone by the time I get there. I don't even want to take the chance of seeing him completely dead. I already know things won't be the same for me anymore. If I turn back, I'll never be able to be myself again. Leave me alone, or I swear by my life that I will find you and tear you apart."

_I see you won't be convinced. _

"Darn straight. And if it takes me the rest of my life, I'll kill Zorro."

_Revenge is no way to live… but sayonara. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Tails… Sonic's afraid of what may happen if he continues to stay near you. He fears that you'll die. He's left, and he's not coming back. _

"No! Don't let him leave! I don't want to die!"

_I'm near enough. If you can wake up, I can save you – Sonic has done his part. If he came back, it would make things easier, but I think we can manage. _

"Okay… I'll try my best… what am I going to feel like when I awake? Is it going to hurt?" Tails asked.

_You're now in my presence. As soon as you're conscious, the healing process can begin. The pain will begin to go away almost immediately. _

"Okay," Tails replied. "How do I wake up?"

_Wait… you're beginning to breathe again. I think what Sonic did worked. _

"Really? Oh man, is he going to be surprised when he sees me!"

_You're not conscious yet… but I think that because you're breathing and you're heart is still beating, we'll be able to wake you up. _

"Oh, man… never mind that, I already feel pain – and it's _real _pain. I think my injuries are waking me up!"

_Don't panic. The pain will start to go away soon enough – just relax and let me do the rest. _

"I know…" Tails said.

"Tails?"

"Was… was that Knuckles?" The fox asked.

_Shh… you're waking up… you actually just spoke. Don't waste your energy doing that until I'm done, here. _

A few minutes passed by. Tails could feel the energy of the Master Emerald filling his lungs, and for a few moments, he was unable to breathe again – but the feeling soon became warm and comforting and he began to relax.

_There we go… just try and keep breathing. _

The fox's inhalations gradually became steadier and longer; pretty soon, he could hear them. Trusting himself to speak without passing out, he took in a slow, deep breath.

"C'n… c'n you ge' Sonic back here?"

_I told you not to talk! And no, I can't… I'm using my power on you right now. _

"…starting to not hur' so bad," Tails said. "C'n I… stand?"

_I believe so… go ahead and try, I'm going to withdraw my power and see if you can do it on your own. _

"Well, I c'n talk well 'nough," Tails said. He heard Knuckles chuckle, in spite of everything that was going on.

"So you think," the echidna said. "You sound like you've been drinking all night, Tails."

The fox opened his eyes. "Hol' on… still hurts a bit," he mumbled.

_Take your time. _

Slowly but surely, Tails was able to push himself to his feet. His vision came into focus, and he could make out the figure of Knuckles, along with the glowing green Master Emerald. He grinned faintly at the pair of them, seeing them as separate individuals instead of one person and one rock.

"Wow," Tails said, feeling more renewed by the second. He walked towards the Emerald and, legs nearly collapsing beneath him for a second, leaned on it. "I jus' realized somethin'. That night when you first came t' me, Angel Island was visible from my house. Guess you can delve into a person's mind if you're close enough…?" Tails said.

_That's about correct. I can delve from several miles away, but I can only help you heal if I'm within a few yards. _

"You're really amazing… Y' know, if Sonic ever calls you 'some rock' again…"

_I take it that's some sign of gratitude. _

"'Course!" Tails said. He turned to face his red friend. "Thanks, Knuckles! Real glad you got here on time."

"Sure thing. That was a close call. At first, I was on my way to tell you about the Super Emeralds, but—"

"I know, I heard," Tails replied.

"Speaking of Super Emeralds, though…" Knuckles grinned.

"Huh?"

"Well, I figured you might need this." Knuckles took his hands out from behind his back and tossed Tails a large, white Emerald.

The fox caught the Emerald, albeit somewhat clumsily. "Whoa! Are—are you kidding me?" Tails stammered excitedly.

"Nope. I had this one when it transformed to a Super Emerald and managed to keep it from warping away. Obviously, it's the white one. I was told about this Zorro guy and figured you might need it." Knuckles explained.

"Thanks a lot, Knuckles! You don't know how much this means to me! If you find any others, find a way to let me know, okay?"

"Sure thing. I'll be around… in fact, we were planning on following you two – from a few miles' distance to ensure the Master Emerald doesn't get stolen – so that we could help you. And that way, the Master Emerald would be able to help you out and give you more ideas."

"That sounds great! This doesn't seem so impossible, anymore! Except… well, about the Super Emeralds…"

_Don't think I don't remember from last time – you were afraid to use them and only did so when Sonic did. _

"Hey, he was scared, too!"

_I'm aware of that. But their power is my power – just remember that. I know they can be dangerous to use because of their enormous amounts of energy, but just know that I won't let you get hurt around them. _

"Sonic, either?"

There was a brief pause in which Tails guessed the Master Emerald pretended to consider this.

_Sonic either. _

**I won't deny that I was somewhat nervous about putting this one up. Most of the CPR scenes were removed for obvious reasons… I don't want it to be taken the wrong way. This fanfiction is darker and more serious than the others (like I said before) so please bear with me on that part. I really can't think of any other way to keep someone alive when they're miles and miles away from a hospital. **


	7. Chapter 7: A Way of Working Out

**Okay, so I was a day or two late on this chapter. Sorry about that, for those of you who actually checked my profile and noticed. The next one should be up on time.**

CHAPTER 7: Things Have A Way Of Working Out

"I can't _believe_ this happened…"

"Should I have turned around?"

"Is this a bad dream?"

"Is Eggman actually going to win this time?"

"My friend is _dead_ because of that _metal bastard_."

"_If I ever see Zorro's face again………_"

These were only a small portion of the thoughts going through Sonic's head as he ran and ran. He had no idea where he was. He had been running aimlessly for the past hour – not at top speed, otherwise he'd be half way around the world by now. In fact, he was probably not even going one hundred miles per hour. To him, it was mere jogging.

"Let Station Square be destroyed. They deserve it for believing Tails was a criminal." Sonic stopped suddenly and turned to face the direction he had come from. "Well, _how do you like him now!?_" He shouted to the wind. "How do you like Tails now that he just _died _trying to save you assholes?"

_You know you don't really mean that…_

"I told you to stay away from me," Sonic snapped.

_You'll thank me for this later. Watch your back, Sonic – danger awaits you in the jungle ahead._

"Nothing I can't handle," Sonic said irritably.

_Stupid fool. You know very well that the threat you're facing is more difficult than what you've seen in the past._

"Who the hell are you?"

_The last time you questioned me with that matter, I told you to ask Tails. I now tell you the same thing._

"Tails is _dead!_"

_Just because you weren't there to witness him awaking doesn't mean he didn't awake._

"Be quiet! I'm not falling for your false hope!" Ignoring any further comments made by the voice, Sonic continued into the jungle.

_Turn around, Sonic! You're getting closer…_

"Good! I need something to take my anger out on, anyway!" Sonic snapped. The voice was silent. All that could be heard for the next few minutes were the thumps of Sonic's feet hitting the ground continuously.

Before long, though, he stopped, actually considering some of the words he had just been told. "What if Tails is actually still—"

Before he had time to finish his sentence, though, a loud 'clang' made him aware of something landing behind him. As he turned around to face it, something else landed where he had just been looking – and before he knew it, he was surrounded.

"Clones of the clone…? Come on, Robotnik, I know you're more creative than that." Sonic muttered. The threats were nothing more than Zorro look-alikes (without the addition of Super Emerald powers, of course) – but their orange eyes discerned them from the actual Zorro.

_I strongly advise that you turn around._

"Ha! Yeah, right… these things are powerless without Super Emeralds!"

_There's strength in numbers._

Again, Sonic disregarded the mysterious voice and jumped up, then did a back flip and slammed his feet down on the robot behind him. Instinct took over as his sixth sense became aware of another robot approaching behind him, and subsequently he raised one foot in the air and slammed it backwards roughly, hitting his target.

He set his foot down in front of him and continued forward; aside from what was behind him, there was another whole battle awaiting him in front. Leaping into the air again, the blue blur curled his body into a tight ball and slammed his spikes into the nearest robot, grinding into it like a saw in wood. Feeling the metal around him crack, he reversed the direction of his spin dash – but instead of stopping, backed into another bot, cutting through it instantaneously.

Sonic ended his spin dash and let himself land back on the ground, skidding backwards some but remaining on his feet nonetheless. He took a look at the increasing amount of Zorro-clones surrounding him and wondered what the odds of escaping this without injury were. Maybe that voice _was _right…

"Ow!" A blow to the back of the head stalled his thoughts and he put one foot out in front of him to keep his balance. He regained his standing position and began turning to face the robot that had just struck him, swinging one hand around blindly in an attempt to punch it before it hit him again – but he was too slow. The bot grabbed his fist as it advanced forward and raised Sonic in the air briefly before thrusting him forward. The hedgehog landed a few yards away in a wet, swampy area that he was grateful for; that would have hurt a lot more had it been solid ground.

"Not bad, for a clone…" Sonic admitted quietly to himself. He growled under his breath, frustrated at his own weakness, and began to get up – but before he could, the same robot kicked him in the jaw, the ensuing force throwing his head backwards.

Through the blurriness of his mind, Sonic was still smart enough to roll in the direction that he'd been kicked before trying to get up – or else he would only be injured again. So he did, struggling to stand up at first, but finally managing to do so. His mouth hurt and he could feel blood dripping down his chin, but as long as he could stand, he could fight.

Having taken enough punishment for the time being, the hedgehog wasted no time pondering what his next move would be. He threw himself towards another robot, swinging and kicking frantically – and thankfully, his method proved successful as it fell to the ground.

From there, he bent his knees and leapt diagonally, going several feet in the air and towards a tree on his right. As soon as he was near enough to it, he turned his outer foot towards it and pushed off of it hard, rocketing himself towards a row of robots at a high velocity. In a matter of seconds, he had smashed clear through five robots and was already beginning a spin dash towards three more. He hit one, then bounced off its head towards another, and finally blasted through the last one in the area before landing on the ground.

There were only a few robots left that he could see – this would be no problem.

Or at least, that's what Sonic thought until their mechanical tails started spinning. "Great!" Sonic said, voice taking on a frustrated tone. But contrary to his expectations, they didn't attack – they continued until they were about five feet in the air and made no threatening move towards him. "Great!" Sonic reiterated, this time without the sarcasm. He could get out of this here and now…

Suddenly, dozens more robots jumped down from the trees and surrounded him – many more than last time. The ones that had flown in the air a few seconds ago started zooming around him threateningly. "Great…" He muttered for a third time.

He couldn't jump – he'd be sliced to shreds by the spinning blades. He couldn't go forward; there were robots in front of him. He couldn't back up. They were closing in on him.

_I warned you to run – hold your ground, though, we're almost there._

Sonic had no idea what was meant by that, but agreed inwardly and began fighting off the robots as best as he could, hoping that whoever – or whatever – was coming to help him came _fast._

"Sonic, Sonic, _Sonic_!" A high-pitched voice screamed from above. "Jump now, while that robot's outta your way!"

The hedgehog obeyed and sprung into the air about six feet above him, paying no attention to who the person commanding him was. As soon as he got in the air, one of the flying robots dashed right underneath where he had been. He realized that if he had jumped a split second too late, those blades would have killed him.

He also realized that the robot was _still _directly underneath him, and that gravity was starting to pull him back down.

Before he even had a chance to panic, though, he felt a pair of hands meet his own and seize them firmly. Then his rescuer let go with one hand and moved it down towards Sonic's torso, wrapping his entire arm around the area, then the other arm, in order to get a better grip. Sonic found himself being pulled higher and higher in the air, and he knew exactly who he had to thank for that… but he couldn't find the words to say it.

A few silent seconds later, he was set on a large, thick branch in a tall tree, his young companion and savior landing a few feet in front of him, casually brushing leaves off himself. In the wind and sunlight, the fox's fur seemed to shine as it was blown around gently, along with his lifesaving two tails. Sonic stared at him in disbelief. Not only was Tails alive, his fur looked healthy and beautiful as if he had just washed and brushed it. There was no evidence that he had been beaten and tortured whatsoever. It was such an unexpected – yet amazing – sight that it really did feel too good to actually be true.

"Sonic, are you okay?" Tails asked, almost as if nothing unusual was going on. Sonic could hear the indisputable concern and care in his friend's voice. It sounded real. Then and there, he knew he wasn't imagining the phenomenal event that was happening.

Sonic nodded in response to Tails' question, but nothing more. His face was still filled with shock.

Tails realized this soon enough – Sonic had thought he was dead. "You don't gotta worry, Sonic," Tails began to explain. "I'm not hurt anymore."

The next thing the little fox knew, he was being held in a tight embrace that had no signs of letting up any time soon. Genuinely touched by Sonic's sudden action – it wasn't very often Sonic hugged him that ardently – Tails, too, put his arms around his friend.

Sonic attempted to speak, but found that he couldn't get past a lump that had suddenly become noticeable in his throat. Surrendering to his happiness and utter relief, he allowed warm tears to flow down his cheeks and drip onto Tails' fur. "I thought…" He began.

"S—Sonic?" Tails said, looking up at his idol with his sparkling blue eyes but not letting go. "Are you crying?"

"I thought you didn't make it," Sonic whispered shakily.

"Those are happy tears, then?"

"Yes," Sonic said. "I'm sorry I gave up, Tails… it was my fault…" Sonic cried, falling to his knees. The young kitsune dropped to one knee in front of him, blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

"_Not_ your fault," Tails said gently, beginning to get choked up as well. "If you… if you hadn't done what you did, I wouldn't a' made it."

"Don't _ever _scare me like that again," Sonic said. "I didn't want to go on without you, buddy… I was on the verge of letting Station Square be destroyed… and that wouldn't have been what you wanted…"

"You're a hero, Sonic. You wouldn't have really done that, would ya?"

"Not now. And I never will." Sonic stood up again and Tails did the same, both still sniffling.

"Sonic… before we get down from this branch…" Tails started.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I… I just wanted to say… thank you," Tails said, cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. He was as embarrassed about the idea as Sonic was.

"Well… I didn't want you to die," Sonic said. "You're welcome…"

"And… Sonic?" Tails continued.

"Hm?"

"Can we take a break from fighting Zorro… just for today? It's just… I want to spend some time with you in case something like this happens again… to either of us." If Tails were to admit the truth to Sonic, spending time together meant more to him than finding the Super Emeralds and defeating Zorro. In fact, it meant more to him than just about anything.

"Of course, bro," Sonic said, smiling. "And I see what you mean. As much as I hate to admit it… it's a possibility we might not make it out of this. Fighting against Chaos Emeralds is one thing, but Super Emeralds are… well, they're something else."

Happy that Sonic understood, Tails beamed. "Where are we going to go?" He said, childish excitement shining in his cerulean eyes.

"Where ever… I don't care. But you have some explaining to do, first," Sonic told him. "For now, let's stay up here and hope those robots clear away."

"I'm su'prised those robots haven't flown up here by now," Tails realized.

"They didn't go very high when I was fighting them. I think they're programmed to stay near the ground."

"That's convenient for us," Tails stated.

"Sure is. Now, are you going to tell me how in the world you're sitting here without a scratch?" Sonic said, sitting down to hang his feet off the large branch and knowing all the while Tails would catch him if he fell.

"Well, it's sort of hard to explain…" Tails said before pausing to get comfortable next to Sonic. He leaned his head on the hedgehog's fuzzy blue shoulder, which was something he did rather rarely nowadays. Sonic put a reassuring arm around him.

"Yeah?" He asked, urging Tails to continue.

"Well, it started with this voice… I didn't know what it was at first, but it told me in a dream…"

Sonic's eyes widened. Could this be the same voice he was hearing?

"…It was the Master Emerald! I guess it has some sort of conscience. Knuckles was carrying it with him and he found me in the forest after you left. The Emerald healed me." Tails said.

Sonic nodded slowly, the pieces of the puzzle starting to fall together. He had refused to listen to the Master Emerald, making things a lot harder than they had to be.

_I won't say I told you so, _the voice said. _But… I told you so._

"…But it can only talk to you in your mind if it's near you," Tails continued.

"Wait, I just heard it! Does that mean it's near me?"

"Yeah," Tails answered. "As soon as I woke up, we started following you. Guess you're lucky I got to you on time, huh?"

"Yeah, definitely!" Sonic replied. "So, the Master Emerald can't move without Knuckles, am I right? So that means they're both around somewhere…?"

_A little to the north, Sonic._

Sonic looked up. He could just barely see a green glow coming from one of the uppermost branches. Knuckles had clearly climbed up there with the Emerald.

"Tails, let's go up there!" Sonic said.

Tails nodded and pulled Sonic into the air. As they neared the branch the glow was coming from, the Master Emerald came fully into view, along with Knuckles, who was sitting on top of it.

"Talk about a giant tree," Sonic remarked. Tails released him onto the branch and landed next to him. "Hey, Knuckles! Long time no see."

Knuckles nodded at him. "You okay? That was a close call down there."

"Yeah, 's all good," Sonic said coolly. He shifted his glance over to the Master Emerald. _Thanks, _he thought inwardly.

_You're welcome._

"We decided hang around the areas you two are going to be in the future," Knuckles said. "Figured the Master Emerald could be of more help to you. We're not going to be right with you, though… I'm going to keep the Emerald a few miles away so Zorro doesn't get his hands on it."

Sonic nodded. "Sounds like a plan! Tell you what, though, I promised Tails we'd take the rest of the day off to recuperate… so we'll pick up where we left off tomorrow morning."

"Fine. Come to Angel Island tomorrow morning around eight or nine - and don't be late."

"Right. Think you can fly us down, Tails?"

"'Course!" The delighted fox said. "No, wait!"

"Huh?"

Tails paused. _Should I show him what Knuckles gave me now? Nah, I'll wait until we need it and surprise him. Hah. _With a shrug, Tails grinned and said, "Never mind, one tail just had a little cramp. I'm better now."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was about ten o'clock when Sonic and Tails had decided to call it a night. In a matter of about seven hours, the two of them had seen a movie, ordered chili dogs for dinner, helped clean up a good portion of the ruins of downtown Station Square, and signed about a thousand autographs. Somehow, the story of Zorro confronting them had already made it to local news stations.

"I'm so happy!" Tails said, beaming as he walked into Amy's house (she had insisted on allowing them to stay the night after hearing about the battle). "They all know I'm innocent, now! They're rooting for me! And they know how we both saved each other earlier, Sonic! They know that _I _can actually save people! I don't think I've ever signed so many autographs in my life!"

"Me, either!" Sonic agreed. "I'm surprised they remembered what the Super Emeralds were from last time, though."

"Well, us defeating the Death Egg was all over the news, too," Tails said. "Everyone knows the Super Emeralds are powerful! And we _beat _somethin' that had _three _of them!"

"That's right! For now, anyway. I'm sure he'll be back. But we can cross that road—"

"—when we come to it." Tails said, winking at his friend.

"You know me way too well, kid," Sonic said, smirking.

"Sonic!" Amy said, running up to her self-proclaimed boyfriend. "It's about time you two got back!" She gave him a brief hug and was delighted when Sonic returned it.

"I think I'm going to go to bed, if no one has anything else to say," Tails said. "It's been a pretty long day, y' know?"

"Hold on, Tails," Sonic said.

"Oh, yeah… we have to keep going after Zorro tomorrow," He said, ears drooping glumly. Then he remembered the Super Emerald stuffed in the fur of his left tail. "Hey, Sonic! Why don't you let me go after him alone just for tomorrow, that way you can keep helping all the people who need help in the city?"

Sonic raised his eyebrows. "Whoa, there, bro… after today…?"

"Trust me!" Tails said confidently. "I have a little plan of my own!"

"I don't think it's a good idea, Tails. I don't want anything bad to happen again."

"Even if something bad _does _happen… I'll know what to do! I _promise_ I'll be careful. I won't get hurt!" Tails said, looking up at Sonic eagerly.

Sonic sighed in defeat. "All right, you win."

"I'll go with you, Sonic!" Amy volunteered.

"Uh... how 'bout you go with Tails?" Sonic asked suggestively. "He needs your help more than I do. Zorro's no 'slap on the wrist' guy, he means business!"

Amy's shoulders drooped a bit, but she brightened right back up. Suddenly, that didn't sound like such a bad idea. "I'll hit Zorro good for what he did to you and Tails!" She promised.

Tails shrugged. Although Amy did get on his nerves sometimes, they had made a good team before! Why not?

"Tails!" Sonic said seriously. "Don't forget. Angel Island tomorrow morning, nine o'clock at the latest."

"I won't!" Tails said, making determined fists. "You can count on me, Sonic!"

**After the next chapter is up, updates may be a little less frequent. I'm working on other stories to be put up in the (hopefully near) future as well, so I won't be dedicating all my writing time to just this anymore.**


	8. Chapter 8: Trusting

**Well. Long time no see. Yes, I'm still alive. Two words: writer's block. Really really bad. You know, the kind of writer's block that makes you want to ignore your story for a month. Or slam your head into a brick wall. Whatever floats your boat. ANYway, I think I did all right with this chapter, for having such a hard time coming up with the idea. This was one of the few chapters of this story that I had written absolutely NO notes or ideas for whatsoever. So… yeah. Don't hate me.**

CHAPTER 8: Trusting

While Sonic had agreed to let Tails and Amy go after Zorro for the night, he soon noticed how tired Tails still was from all the events that occurred earlier in the day and was now attempting to convince him to rest.

"But Sonic, I don't want to waste time. Look at how much has happened in the last twelve hours… waiting until morning will waste another ten!" Tails argued stubbornly.

"You almost got killed today," Sonic reminded him. "The Master Emerald may have healed you, but even that can only do so much. You need to rest."

The fox folded his arms. "You weren't like this last year. You didn't worry so much. And even if you did, at least you _trusted _me," he mumbled. "It was a battle getting you to let me see what Zorro is up to."

"Take a walk in my shoes! In the last year, I've seen you change into something evil, be tortured by Eggman, nearly bleed to death trying to save me, fight through more than a seven-year-old should have to fight through in a decade, and be seconds – _SECONDS – _away from death!"

A sudden tense feeling in his throat prevented the kitsune from talking for a moment. He took a deep breath and struggled not to let on how hurt he was. "Well… I've seen _you _through the eyes of the enemy, Sonic! I've been forced to hurt you and torture you, all the while knowing what I was doing! I've seen you being unable to move and in more pain than I've probably ever been in in my life. I've seen you struggle, and scream, and fight for your life, but I always believed in you!

"And not too long ago, you had your arms around my neck while I was flying you through Eggman's base. You couldn't do _anything._ But you trusted me then. What's the diff—"

"Tails, darn it, you don't know what it's like to lose someone," Sonic interrupted.

"You didn't lose anyone, though!"

"But I was _positive _you were dead all the time I was in that jungle today."

"But I'm just like you, Sonic! Aren't I? We've been through everything together, and _I've _survived everything you've survived! Just try and look at me how I look at you, instead of me always being the little kid who needs help! Please, Sonic?"

Understanding that Tails wanted a little more independence, and respecting it, Sonic nodded. "Okay, then. Tomorrow, we go to Angel Island, and right after that we'll split up so I can help out in the city and you can keep an eye on Zorro."

Without another word, the two of them went into separate rooms for the night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Holy—!" Tails all but shrieked, opening his eyes quickly and jumping underneath the blankets. "What in the world is that _beeping?_"

The fox hopped out of bed and immediately turned on a light. The sound was coming from his palladium-detecting radar on the nightstand (conveniently located next to a clock, which read one-thirty in the morning) – the tool he had used to track down Zorro the first time. Only then did he realize that Zorro must not be very far at all.

"Tails, are you okay?" Amy asked, slamming open the door. Sonic followed her inside.

"You guys! He's close! The radar just started beeping real fast. He's nearby, perhaps less than a mile! Only… I don't see a dot on the radar at all!"

"Can he turn invisible or something?" Amy questioned.

"Not as far as I know. Maybe… maybe he's underground," Tails guessed.

"How, though?" Sonic asked. "We're in Amy's house, in the middle of the city. Concrete cement surrounds us for several miles. The only place he could be underground would be the…"

"Oh," Tails said as understanding dawned. _Sonic won't go in there. Sewers are full of water. They're pretty disgusting, too! _"It's okay, Sonic, you can stay here!" The kitsune said. "Besides, wasn't that the plan, anyway? Me and Amy go after Zorro while you help people around here?"

Sonic nodded. If he tried at all to hide his relief, he certainly failed. "Thanks," he admitted. "Be careful, 'kay?"

"Yup, I know," Tails said. "You just going to chill around here 'til we come back?"

"Yeah, guess so," Sonic said. "No one else will be up at this hour, anyway."

Without another word, Tails exited the room, walked at a speedy pace down the hallway, and left the house, followed closely by Amy. _Whatever you're up to, Zorro, it's not going to get much further, _he thought to himself. For reassurance, he reached into the fur of one of his tails and wrapped his fingers around the Super Emerald. _I won't go down so easy this time._

"Tails, wait up! I'm grabbing my hammer. Just in case."

Tails ignored her, knowing she would catch up, and rushed out the door. He could see a covered sewer hole not too far ahead, and he didn't hesitate to advance towards it. "That's convenient! Usually you can't find something easily when you're looking for it."

With help from Amy's hammer, they busted through the sewer's top and carefully climbed down into it. Tails felt water seeping through his shoes, soaking the fur on his feet. He looked down; the fact that the water was a sick brown in color wasn't at all comforting. Behind him, Amy shrieked with disgust.

"Oh my gosh! I don't think I've ever smelled anything so nasty!"

"C'mon, Amy, there's walkways on the sides. They don't look too wet."

Amy followed Tails without question. The fox used his twin propellers to lift himself onto the dry concrete, which was about a foot higher than the water, and then pulled Amy up.

"Now what?" Amy asked, picking up one foot and shaking it off. Ahead of them was a ten-step ladder that led to higher ground (along with a disgusting, dirty water fall splashing down from the higher ground in question). Just before the ladder was a path that turned right.

"I'm… not sure."

"Uh," Amy began, stopping nervously, "you DID bring the—"

"Oh yeah, I knew that!" Tails said with a chuckle, taking out the radar. "Looks like we keep going straight. I think he's quite a ways past the ladder."

"Why would he lure us in _here _of all places?" Amy asked.

"I doubt there's any special reason. He just wants to make things even _worse _for us, prob'ly. Eggman likes making his 'bots like that. He always has them pester us and torture us for a bit before he's ready to kill us."

"Wonder why he doesn't just try to kill us? Hasn't he learned that we always find a way out of things before he's ready to finish his plan? We're always one step ahead of him." Amy said, smiling determinedly. "Plus, Sonic _likes _the danger. I don't think Eggman gets that."

Tails chuckled. "I don't know. Eggman's just too confident. He always thinks he'll be able to defeat us _this time _for sure."

"That gives us a great advantage, though."

"Yep. Sometimes I think he just stalls his plan to get rid of us for good on purpose. I don't think even Eggman has killed anyone before. He just might not have it in—" Tails paused, feeling an uncomfortable and all too familiar wetness on his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Amy look down at the same time he did. The water was rising. Big surprise.

"Zorro is _definitely _in here, all right," Tails said. "He knows we're coming." In the time it took Tails to speak the sentence, the water had reached their knees.

"Well don't just stand there!" Amy shouted. "We need to get out of here!"

Tails nodded and headed for the ladder. "This'll get us to higher ground. Hurry up!"

"What!? Why don't we just turn around and get out the way we came in?"

"Amy, it's not rising that fast, stop panicking!" Tails said.

"What if there's no way out up ahead? We'll drown in here!"

"I am _not _letting Zorro get away again! If you want out, I'll fly you up out of the hole and come back myself!"

As Tails anticipated, Amy's attitude changed completely. "No way! Even I'm not that wimpy!"

The water was nearly up to their waists now. They stopped bickering and Amy climbed up the ladder – Tails met her at the top. Neither of them needed a command to know what to do next. They ran like the devil was behind them.

"It's not going to be long… before the water… reaches us again. Can we get up higher?" Amy said through breaths of air.

"No _duh_!" Tails said sarcastically. He lifted himself into the air, grabbing Amy's hands and pulling her up with him. "There's only so much water in here. It has to stop rising eventually. 'Til then, we'll keep ourselves above it. No worries!"

Tails flew swiftly over the water. He passed over about five more ladders before deciding it was safe to land again. He released Amy (a bit clumsily) and landed beside her, breathing heavily.

"Are you all right?"

Tails looked at her and nodded. "Mm-hmm. It's just that flying that fast takes a lot of energy… But we should be safe for a few minutes."

"How close are we to Zorro?"

"We can't be too far. Hold on," he replied.

"I sure hope not. I don't like all this water."

"You sound like Sonic," Tails teased. "Whoa… that's really weird."

"What?" Amy asked, a hint of panic in her voice.

"The radar shows… that Zorro is exactly where we are," Tails answered quietly. He felt a chill go down his spine.

"W—what? But… that _can't _be right, then," Amy said, turning her head in several directions to examine their surroundings. Then, as if rehearsed, the two of them made eye contact at the same time, and then slowly tilted their heads backwards.

The metal fox was directly above them, poking his head through a sewer hole there, staring fixedly at them with glowing blue eyes.

Before either of them had a chance to react, even reflexively, Zorro jumped down from the sewer hole with his arms spread out to either side. One hit Amy and the other hit Tails, knocking them both to the ground and pinning them.

Tails gripped at the cold, steel hand at his neck and pulled, struggling at the same time to take a breath of air. It was no use, and he didn't expect it to be. The world around him was already going in and out of focus; Zorro had him in such a grip that he would pass out from lack of oxygen within a few seconds if he didn't do something – and he had learned from previous experience that being unconscious in his clone's presence was _never _a good thing.

_The Super Emerald! I got to get the Super Emerald! It's the only thing that'll get me out of this!_

To his utter surprise, the voice of the Master Emerald rang through his head. _No. If you take it out from the fur of your tails, he will know you have it. If he gets that one, he will have four – then he will outnumber you. I know this is going to be hard to hear, but you must trust me: be submissive. Allow the darkness to take you. It will be okay. Zorro will not kill you if Eggman is not there to see it – you have time._

_I trust you – but how much time? What will he do with me? Will he hurt me again?_

_That, I do not know. What I know are the facts… but not the future. All I know is that he will not kill you yet._

Inside of his mind, Tails hesitated. _How will I wake up? What about getting away from him?_

_I will communicate with Sonic immediately. Relax._

He opened his eyes and was thrown back into the real world. He would have taken a deep breath if his air passages weren't being blocked. What he was told to do was against every law of human (or fox) nature.

Tails let go of Zorro's arm and let his hands fall onto his stomach. Much to his thankfulness (because being choked wasn't exactly comfortable), unconsciousness took him quickly. The last thing he felt was the dirty water catching up to him; it was rising again. He hoped Amy would be okay.

**Short, yes, but I DO know exactly what's going to happen in the next two or three chapters. Just have to type it. You all deserve an update weekly because of how long this wait was… I'm going to try to do just that, but with school starting again in a week, I don't know how well it'll work. Please review :)**


	9. Chapter 9: Five Minutes of Freedom

**See, I'm not late this time. Yay. Go me. Two more chapters are almost completed after this, so there should not be any more prolonged waits. A few of my regular reviewers didn't review last time. They probably thought I died or something and didn't even realize I updated. Speaking of reviewers, if you're one of those readers who haven't reviewed yet, feel free to do so because I really want to know what people think of the story so far - especially this chapter.**

CHAPTER 9: Five Minutes of Freedom

It was completely dark. No noise could be heard. He couldn't feel his surroundings. The only thing that existed of him was his thoughts.

_Am I dead? No… wait, the Master Emerald said Zorro wouldn't… wait. What _did _it say? I wonder if Amy's okay… Is Sonic here yet?_

Tails' thoughts drifted. He couldn't seem to focus on one thing for more than a few seconds. Finally, he came to the conclusion that he was still unconscious but beginning to wake up. It wasn't too long after this realization that he managed to open his eyes.

Above him was a blue sky, dulled by thin white clouds and blocked partially by the huge trees above him. There were fruits of all kinds hanging from the trees, and most of them didn't look familiar. Beneath him was what he guessed to be soft, damp grass, and out of the corner of his eye he could see a few small animals eyeing him curiously from a safe distance. It was, as a whole, a beautiful sight… no doubt about it. It seemed almost too pleasant to be true.

Tails pushed himself into a sitting position with his hands, fully expecting to discover some sort of paralysis or bruises or broken bones. Fortunately, no pain followed. He did notice a strange, bracelet-like device around both of his wrists, though, but ignored it for the moment and smiled, relieved that everything seemed to be okay. But the grin left his face almost as soon as it had come. "Oh, no… he didn't take it… he didn't!" The fox hoped aloud to himself. He reached for one of his namesakes and raked his fingers through the fur. Feeling nothing, he frantically grabbed the other one. The Super Emerald wasn't there.

"Tails!"

The fox jumped. "Amy!" He brought a hand to his chest; he had completely forgotten Amy was there… or that she could have been awake, for that matter. He immediately noticed the same mysterious armlets on Amy's wrists as well, but she didn't seem to worry about them.

"Are you looking for an Emerald?" She asked.

"Yes, d'you have it?"

"Yeah, don't worry. When Zorro dropped you here it fell out. I picked it up and hid it before he could even see it!" Amy explained.

"You mean… you weren't passed out still?"

"Nope, I woke up when he was flying us over this jungle. I stayed limp so he wouldn't find out I was awake."

"How long have I been sleeping!?" Tails asked.

"Chill out, Tails! It's only been about twenty minutes since he dropped us here."

"Dropped us? Like, literally?"

"Yeah. Why, does that surprise you?" Amy questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess it shouldn't," Tails admitted.

"He got my dress all dirty, too. Now I smell like robot oil!" She complained.

"I wonder what time it is…" Tails thought aloud.

"I'd say we left my house about three or so hours ago. It's probably around seven or eight in the morning," the pink hedgehog guessed.

"Probably," Tails agreed. "The sun isn't very high in the sky yet, so I'd say that's about right."

A few moments of silence passed as he looked around again, taking in his surroundings.

"Why in the world would he take us to a jungle? Does he think we're just going to wait around for him to come back?" Tails said. "We should get out a' here."

"It shouldn't be too hard. I opened my eyes once when he had us and we weren't very far into the jungle at that point. He only flew for a few more minutes after that. I could hear his tails, too. They sounded like they could cut off a finger."

"They probably could," Tails said, remembering that one of the fox's tails had the exterior missing. It made it look knife-like – Tails imagined that could chop off more than a finger.

"I think this is the way we're supposed to go," Amy said, leading Tails towards a small path between a bunch of dark bushes and some moss-covered trees. They were a good distance away, but still visible. "So, about that Emerald you have," she said as they walked. "I don't know, it looks… different. Are you sure it's not a fake?"

"Positive!" Tails said proudly. "It's…" he paused, wondering if his metal counterpart was around, and whispered into Amy's ear: "It's a Super Emerald."

"No way!"

"Sh, shh!" Tails hissed. "What if he's spying on us?"

"How did you get it?" She said, eyes wide with curiosity.

"Knuckles had it. Long story. Hey Amy," he said, remembering that he wanted to ask her about the things around their wrists. "Do you know what these—hey! Why is it glowing blue?"

Amy gasped. "Mine are, too!"

Do you know what they are?"

"No idea. Maybe it's something Zorro's using to keep track of what we're—"

"Oh, don't say that!" Tails said, shuddering at the idea. "We have to get 'em off! Come on, let's go find a sturdy branch and see if we can smash them, or pry them off, or… or _something_."

The kitsune quickened his pace, going twice as fast as they had been going before. He finished the miniature-journey to the short path they head been heading for and raced into the trees and bushes.

"Watch out for poisonous plants!" Amy called, speeding after him. "Oh no, Tails! Stop!" She shrieked. As soon as Tails had set foot on ground outside the clearing, the wristlets began producing some kind of strange static.

"Owwww!" Tails moaned, backing up hurriedly. "It… it shocked me!" He accused, glaring in the direction of the path.

"That stupid robot! He trapped us with some invisible fence!"

"There must be electricity flowing underground on the edges of the clearing. It's like a more dangerous version of the fence system people use to keep pets in their yards."

Amy placed her hands firmly on her hips. "Well we are _not… pets!_ We'll show Zorro and Eggman… fly us over this, Tails!"

Hope sparked as Amy spoke the words. Duh, he had his two tails! "Okay, grab on!" He said, jumping into the air and turning his tails swiftly. Amy jumped up and gripped his hands as he ascended. They were ten feet in the air, then twenty, then thirty, then…

"AHH!" The electric shock came more suddenly and more intensely this time. He immediately felt Amy's hands separate from his. Both of Tails' namesakes stopped spinning from the electrocution, and he fell back to the ground, making contact hard enough to take his breath away for a few moments. Since it was thick, soft grass, though, that was about it. "So much for _that_."

"Ouch! I don't even want to know how the electricity reaches that high!" Amy said after yanking chunks of dirt and grass out of her mouth. Her lip was bleeding a little, Tails noticed, but it wasn't serious. Amy showed know sign that she even noticed it.

"Well, _that _was certainly entertaining!" Said a low voice that sounded an awful lot like Tails. The two of them turned to face their threat once again.

Amy couldn't help but look surprised. This was the first time she had ever gotten a chance to look Zorro over. He looked _exactly like _Tails and sounded _exactly like _Tails. The only exception was his uncovered tail and a slightly lower voice.

"What, am I that intimidating?" Tails' clone asked her.

"Watch it, pal! I have a hammer and I'm not—"

"Amy! _Not a good time_!"

"I see my twin is getting smarter," Zorro said, turning to Tails and walking towards him. It took the young fox everything he had to stand his ground. "That's very good. Now I don't feel so insulted."

Tails wanted so badly to tell Amy _not to move_. Zorro had faster reflexes than either of them could ever have – reflexes that could only be closely matched by Sonic himself. If she even tried to attack, she would lose…

"_Very _smart indeed," Zorro repeated. "You know who's boss, now."

_Darn it, I forgot he can see my thoughts whenever he wants!_ Then, an idea came to him that was so horrible, it almost made him sick. _He can know I have a Super Emerald…_

In a frantic attempt to hide his secret, Tails began thinking about Sonic. _Where is he? _He asked himself, struggling to keep his mind off the Emerald. But he couldn't think about Sonic, either… if he let his mind wander too much, he could put his best friend in even more danger…

"What are you hiding, Miles?"

Tails remained silent. He was tempted to close the distance off between them by running up and kicking him, but he knew that was extremely reckless. If he just kept Zorro talking for a while, he would be all right. Sonic would show up and get them out of this… Or…

_Oh man, I feel really bad about what I said to him earlier. I… I don't want to go on adventures without him. I don't want him to think I don't need him. He's my friend, and I should have never asked to do this alone._

"Wanted some independence, did you?" Zorro said.

"_Stop _it!" Tails shouted, unable to stop himself. "Stop doing that! It's none of your business what I think about!"

"Hm. As a matter of fact, it is. You're forgetting one thing. I am you."

"No! You are _not _me! I would never do the things that you do!" Tails argued.

"Oh, you mean like that time you tried to take over Station Square and kill Sonic almost a year ago?"

Tails' ears drooped. "That's… different. That's not fair," he said sadly. "Eggman made me. I had no choice at all!"

To the fox's horror, Zorro took a few more slow steps forward until he was a mere four inches from Tails' face. Tails whimpered.

"What makes you think…" Zorro began quietly. He lifted his right hand and gripped Tails' shoulder… but something was different. He wasn't trying to hurt Tails. "…that I have a choice, either?"

Tails didn't move, nor did he look away from Zorro. Enemy or not, he could see honesty in those eyes… He really did have a mind of his own. He wasn't all robot, after all.

"Of course I'm not," Zorro said. "I explained before, I was made with your DNA and your blood… I only have a robot exterior…"

"Tails, get away from him!!" Amy warned loudly, not willing to keep quiet any longer. Both Tailses shot her irritated looks.

"I will be punished for fighting off the evil that normally overcomes me. This will probably be the only time I can talk to you without hurting you. Eggman will upgrade my central processing unit – the memory chip – so that it is nearly impossible to give in to good at all. Just like he did with you."

"But I overcame it!" Tails said.

"I know. And Eggman has learned from that."

"How do you know he'll do that? Wouldn't he have done it already?" Tails asked.

"It takes a lot of computer coding and engineering to do complete a project of that magnitude. Instead of doing all of that, he simply used the same coding in my CPU that he used in the memory chip that made you evil a year ago. He figured that, since I have Super Emeralds inside me (which I'm sure you know by now), they would keep me from giving in like I just did. But he was wrong.

"So I shall take advantage of this time with you. It will not last much longer. He is on his way."

Tails nodded, listening intently to distract himself from thinking about the Emerald still tucked in his tail. He couldn't trust Zorro, couldn't let him know; he knew his metallic clone wouldn't stay this way for long.

"Zorro," Tails said, calling him by name for the first time, "is there anything we can do—"

"_TAILS!_" Amy yelled. "He won't stay this way! There's no way to help him! He is your _enemy!_" She lunged and grabbed Tails' arm before he could back away, and Zorro took his hand off Tails' shoulder reflexively. She ran, yanking Tails along behind her. He didn't chase after them. He was going to let them go, even if he could only do it once.

"Amy, let _go! _I – Zorro –"

"Kill me, Tails!" Zorro called after him. "You have to kill me or Eggman will take over the world…!"

_I know… but you're a part of me, Zorro!_ Tails thought, wondering if Zorro was still inside his mind. _You are me._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I will _not _let you get to Tails and Amy before I do!" Sonic hollered.

"You've been saying that for the past twenty minutes!" Eggman screamed back, launching a missile from his Robotic Walker. Sonic jumped up in the air just in time to dodge it – he barely felt it hit the bottom of his shoe.

"And you haven't gotten to them yet, have you?" Sonic said, smirking. "You'll be just a minute too late, like you always are!"

"I really hate you!" Eggman said, becoming more and more irritated by the second.

"Oh, poor me, Eggman doesn't like me. I'm just _so—_"

"GAHH!" Eggman wailed, slamming his fists down on his machine. Two bullets fired out at the speed of… well, bullets. Quick reflexes taking control, Sonic ducked and narrowly avoided being shot in the face. He felt one perforate a quill on his head, though, and cried out.

"_You're going to pay for that!_" Sonic rushed forward and delivered one powerful sweep-kick to the left leg of Eggman's Walker, taking it out. He sprung into the air and punched Dr. Eggman directly in the face, deciding it was time that _he _felt some of the pain instead of his machines. A satisfying amount of blood splattered around as his head went backwards from the force. Sonic took advantage of the instant and landed on top of the machine, placing a hand firmly at his enemy's throat.

"I could kill you in ten seconds. I have you right where I need you," Sonic said, grinning. Of course, he wasn't really going to kill him, but by the look on Eggman's face, his threat had the desired effect.

"Wait! Sonic, I—"

"Don't talk," Sonic warned, tightening his grip enough to keep Eggman under his control but not tight enough to choke him. "I know you have a Super Emerald. You'll give it to me if you know what's good for you." Again, it was another empty threat. He wasn't entirely sure if Eggman actually did have one. It was just a hunch. But what else what he be doing out in the middle of nowhere?

As he had hoped, Eggman reached into his pocket and pulled out a large, grey rock shaped like a diamond. Sonic snatched it and stuffed it between two of his quills, wincing slightly because of the bullet wound. "Sayonara. Good like finding them before I do!" And the blue hedgehog sped off, leaving Eggman to sit there dumbfounded in his broken down machine.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I thought you said we weren't too far in here!" Tails said, still running alongside Amy. "We've been going in this direction for half an hour. You don't think we're going the wrong way, do you?"

"Of course not, I know what I'm doing!" Amy said, slightly impatiently. Tails could tell she was worried, no matter how much she tried to hide it.

"I wonder where Sonic is… he was supposed to be here by now," Tails said, more to himself than Amy.

"What makes you say that?" Amy questioned.

"Just a feeling," Tails lied. He didn't feel like explaining that the Master Emerald had a consciousness right now.

Suddenly, Amy halted.

"Why did you stop?" Tails asked.

"I thought I heard something!" She responded. "Like, an echo."

Tails' ears stood up on end, listening for anything besides the noise of wind blowing the trees or animals making sounds. Sure enough, Amy was right. The noise in question was none other than Sonic, calling his name.

"_I'M HERE!_" Tails called back.

"WHERE?" Sonic shouted.

"I don't know, the jungle!"

"I'm right outside of it! You're not far!" Sonic said. "Still hear me?"

"Yeah! I'm following your voice!" Tails and Amy proceeded in the direction they had been going before.

"See, Tails? Told you I knew where I was going."

Not more than two minutes later, they reached the edge of the trees, where Sonic was waiting. Amy was the first to speak.

"Look, Sonic! Tails has a Super Emerald!"

Sonic raised his eyebrows, and grinned at Tails. "Great! Let's see it, bro!"

Tails showed Sonic the grey Emerald. "I don't know why it's grey, but it was white when I first got it! In fact, I've had it for a while, I just didn't think to show you. I've had it since Knuckles used the Master Emerald to heal me."

"With that menace pestering us, I'm surprised you managed to hold onto it for so long," Sonic said. He gave Tails a friendly nudge in the shoulder. "Awesome job!"

"Thanks! So, uh, what now?"

"I say we go back to Amy's and chill," Sonic suggested. "I may be a morning person, but four thirty is a little too early."

"Not a problem!" Amy exclaimed, beaming. She loved when Sonic actually _wanted _to go to her house. "Let's go!"

**Please tell me what you think, and thanks again for reading! Also, the next chapter was so long that I decided to split it up into two chapters (and if I spend that much time on one chapter, it must be really good).**


	10. Chapter 10: Secret of the Spinning Orb 1

**Okay, so I took just a LITTLE longer than planned for this chapter (but only by a few days!). Only because I wanted to make a few little tweaks in the plotline, and… I guess maybe I was being a tad lazy. What can I say?**

**Procrastinators unite… tomorrow!!**

**Haha, I just made a funny that no one probably even thought was funny. **

CHAPTER 10: The Secret of the Spinning Orb – Part 1

Tails did not sleep well the following night. There were too many things that had to be done. There was too much to think about, and too many things that he felt could go wrong. Most of all, though, there was too much confusion. He had just found out that Zorro was made the exact same way he himself had been turned evil last year. He wondered why his apparent enemy was _absolutely sure_ there was no way to fix things.

"Errrgh!" The kitsune growled, slamming two clenched fists on the mattress below him. There were so many questions going through his mind. It seemed impossible to answer them all. "Why doesn't this make _any sense_? He's me, but he's _not _me. He's bad, but he's good! He's exactly the way I was after Eggman released me from the Black Hawk back then, yet I still don't understand it!

"And the Super Emeralds… how the heck do we work this one out? How do we find _four _of them before Eggman even finds _any?_ Why does my Super Emerald and the one Sonic found just sit there when they're supposed to glow, like Chaos Emeralds? How do we even use the darn things once we _do _get them to work?"

The last question Tails thought to himself brought back some unpleasant memories: transformation with all seven Super Emeralds. Of course, the power was split between him along with Sonic and Knuckles, so it could have been worse. Nonetheless, it had been extremely overwhelming.

The amount of power in one Super Emerald was equal to that of all seven Chaos Emeralds. Using all seven of them to transform gave enough energy and power to drive one crazy. They made the very blood in one's system flow faster than what is considered possible; they _burned_ and _froze _at the same time; they put the user through pain that could only be described as a sensation of being torn apart. It was not a feeling Tails would forget quickly.

Despite the anguish of transformation, once the process was complete, being 'Hyper Tails' was reasonably rewarding. Air passages were stretched open so you barely had to inhale to take in oxygen, and it was quite possible to not breathe under water for periods of several minutes. The amount of power the transformer held was virtually unbeatable, as was his invulnerability.

Tails continued to ponder the many queries repeating themselves in his mind. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep. Not necessarily a comfortable sleep (due to constant bad dreams throughout the night), but sleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Tails? Tails?" Sonic's voice repeated.

"…hm…?"

"We need to get to Angel Island."

"Oh yeah, weren't we s'pposed to do that yesterday…"

"Yeah, we were, bro, but this is more important. We think Zorro is heading there…"

"Zorro?" Tails repeated sleepily. "He's my friend… that's okay…"

"Uh, pardon?" Sonic said with a slight chuckle.

Tails' eyes shot open and he realized what he had said. _No, he's NOT your friend, you just woke up from a dream where you freed him from Eggman and he was good, like he was yesterday in the jungle… _"Oh, sorry," Tails said, cheeks turning a pale pink. "Weird dream, never mind that."

Ten minutes later, the two of them flying over the ocean in Tails' plane – they were wasting no time getting to the Island.

"Hey Tails," Sonic began. "I've been thinking…"

"What?" Tails looked over his shoulder to see Sonic studying his Super Emerald.

"This is the one I got from Eggman. I'm beginning to wonder… if it's real or not."

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"This is _Eggman_ we're talking, here," Sonic said. "And it looks different than yours, from what I can tell. It's smaller. In fact, it's not much bigger than a Chaos Emerald."

The fox reached back and took the Emerald from Sonic's hand. "You're right. I have an idea… remind me to take it into my lab in the basement when we get back to the workshop. We'll be able to tell by its properties if it's real or not. No time right now, though. We're almost to the Island."

Tails dove slightly and got ready to land, pressing a button to extend the wheels on the bottom. Sonic had already unlocked the cockpit and was ready to get out when the plane landed.

"Sonic?" Knuckles said as the blue hedgehog climbed down. Tails landed behind him. "Both of you. What are you doing here?"

"By the movement on Tails' radar, we think Zorro is headed here," Sonic informed him.

"Knuckles, he's probably after the Master Emerald!" Tails said, fear in his voice. He didn't want anything to happen to it after all the help he'd been given so far. If the Master Emerald hadn't been able to communicate to him, he probably would be dead by now. Plus, if Zorro got the Emerald, he would be even more powerful.

"Well, that's obvious," Knuckles said.

"Well, we have to get it out of here!" Tails continued, putting his hands on his hips impatiently. "We won't be able to protect it; Zorro's just too strong!"

"With _that _kind of attitude, Tails, you're probably right," Sonic commented. "Relax. Cheer up. We have some hope! Maybe we can come up with a plan."

"Not gonna happen," Tails said, turning and pointing at a yellow and white speck some distance away in the sky. "Anything we do, he'll see from there."

The three of them watched the speck that was Zorro get gradually closer. There was no way they could even _hide _the Master Emerald now.

"Tails, Sonic, come here," Knuckles said. The other two obeyed. Knuckles leaned in and whispered something in their ears. "But wait until he's within earshot so we don't have to talk loud. Otherwise it'll be obvious we want him to hear. And act like you don't even know he's coming right now."

"Worth a try," Sonic said, shrugging. All three of them walked casually up the stairs and sat down next the Master Emerald, making sure to face slightly away from the direction Zorro was coming from. Moments later, their metal foe made his landing. Knuckles nodded ever so slightly, and there plan begun.

"…You mean this isn't the real Master Emerald?" Tails questioned incredulously, saying what Knuckles had told him to say.

"Nope, it's fake. That way if Zorro comes and manages to steal it, he won't get any power from it at all!"

"Wow, Knuckles," Sonic said, faking a tone of surprise. "You actually did something right, for once!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes; he didn't recall telling Sonic to crack a joke about him. "Look who's talking, Mr. Get-caught-in-Eggman's-base-and-get-both-legs-broken!" Knuckles retorted, going along with it. It would make the conversation seem more casual if they started teasing each other; hopefully Zorro wouldn't suspect it was a trick to make him think the Master Emerald wasn't here.

"At least I'm not gullible!" Sonic said. "Even to this day, Eggman can _still _trick you – and you'll believe him!"

A loud stomp at the bottom of the shrine's stairs interrupted their conversation. They all turned to see Zorro, looking incredibly serious. "Where is the Master Emerald!" It was not so much a question as a demand.

"Hah, you think we're just going to come out and tell you?" Sonic asked.

"That would be the best choice," Zorro told him. He began to glow.

_He's drawing even more power from the Super Emeralds inside of him! _The Master Emerald's whisper said to all three of them. _Protect your two Super Emeralds. Do not let him get them, at any cost!_

"Tails," Zorro began. "You will tell me…"

"No!" Tails shouted. Of course, the Master Emerald wasn't anywhere but right there on the island, so any other place they told him was a lie. _If I tell him now, though, it'll look like we're giving in too easily, then Zorro will suspect us. I think the other two are planning on fighting him for a while first, then telling him. Wherever we send him, though, he'll be back… once he sees that there is no Master Emerald anywhere else, he'll realize it was a trick._

"If you refuse to tell me, Tails…" Zorro began impatiently. Then, like a bolt of lightening, he shot forward, grabbed Tails by the shoulders, and slammed him against one of the shrine's pillars. The fox groaned in pain, feeling warm blood on his back.

"I won't tell you!" Tails said stubbornly. _He pinned me like this because he thinks I'm a coward! Well, I'm not going to tell him anything!_

"I'm waiting…" Zorro said, raising his damaged tail to the fox's forehead.

"You… you think you can get anything out of me, don't you? Well, I'm sick of being afraid of you!" Tails said sternly.

"_Tails! No!_" He heard Sonic shout.

"Let me handle this, Sonic!" He called back, a bit more angrily than he had intended. He had no problem with Sonic trying to help him, but right now he was too frustrated at Zorro to focus on anything but him. He grabbed Zorro's arms (still pushing against his shoulders) as he lifted his feet off the ground, using them to support his weight, and kicked into his double's stomach. Zorro fell backwards down the shrine's stairs, pulling Tails with him. They rolled all the way down, punching and head-butting blindly. Tails felt metallic hands crack a bone or two, but for every strike Zorro landed, Tails landed one as well.

"UH!" They both grunted as they slammed into a pillar located on the right side of the stairs' end. They both got to their feet and scrambled away from each other, not necessarily in that order.

Zorro bounded into the air and dove towards Tails. The fox ran out of the way, then jumped in the air as well, spinning his tails to keep flight. Zorro rose back up so that he was the same height in the air as Tails. As if on cue, they both dashed forward, slamming into each other and falling to the ground. Zorro recovered first; Tails pushed himself to his feet a few seconds later.

"Does it hurt?" Zorro asked, raising his eyebrows. "Maybe you can hit me, but that doesn't mean you can hurt me. I'm unbeatable."

Tails started towards him angrily. Zorro backed away. Tails moved to his left. Zorro moved to _his _left. Then they were making a circle as they walked, keeping their bodies faced toward each other, both ready to fight.

"Think fast!" Zorro shouted, launching himself at Tails. He pushed the fox to the ground and continued over him, doing a somersault and landing on his feet. Without looking, he fired a kick behind him and hit Tails in the head.

"Oh, no you didn't!" Sonic said, refusing to 'let Tails handle this' any longer. He was awed by the skill his friend had shown so far, but he wasn't going to stand there and watch him get hurt.

Zorro opened his mouth. "If you—AH!"

Sonic jumped, slammed a foot into Zorro's face, pushed off it, and shot up into the air. He hugged his knees and curled into a ball, then spun rapidly as he descended back towards the evil fox – but instead, he hit the ground, bounced back into the air, and then landed again in a sitting position.

"Whoa…"

"Sonic, are you okay?" Tails said, running over to him.

Sonic didn't respond for a moment; he was a little dizzy from the impact. "…Yeah, are you? You… you put up quite a fight! I'm surprised you managed to get back up after that kick!"

Tails reached out a hand and pulled Sonic to his feet. Knuckles had walked up behind them. They turned toward Zorro, who was already waiting for them.

"I am tiring of this. It's a waste of time. Tell me _right now_ where the real Master Emerald is, or…" Zorro paused.

"Or what?" Sonic said, stepping forward. He barely finished his question before Zorro ran for him. He jumped out of the way, but Zorro had already anticipated that; he followed Sonic and gave him a hard shove. The hedgehog stumbled, trying not to fall, which gave the robotic fox just enough time to move forward again and grab him around the neck.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Tails said frantically, racing towards them.

"Don't move, or he dies!" Zorro threatened. Tails stopped in his tracks. Still holding Sonic by the neck, the metal fox walked to the very edge of the floating island. The ocean was four hundred feet below them.

"NO!" Tails shouted, tears filling his eyes. He slammed his fists down in the air and stomped his foot, but didn't move forward. "The Master Emerald is buried in the plains a few miles south of Station Square!"

"That's all I needed to hear. You made it so hard."

_I never wanted it to go this far! We were supposed to fight him for a bit and then tell him some location where the Master Emerald would be, and then everything would be fine for a while!_

"You better hold your end of the deal, pal!" Knuckles warned, moving up to stand next to Tails.

"Deal? I don't recall saying I wouldn't drop him if you told me."

"You wouldn't!" Tails said.

"What makes you say that? I live for the sole purpose of killing you two. I have no reason to keep him alive… I've had my fun with him!"

"Take me instead, then! You'll still get rid of one of us!" Tails begged. Tears were rolling down his cheeks, now.

"T—tail—s," Sonic breathed, gripping hard at the hand squeezing his throat. Zorro only choked him more.

"Hm, I don't think Sonic wants me to do that. And he should at least get his last wish."

"No, wait! What if I gave you—"

"_NO!_"

"But Knuckles, he's going to kill Sonic! We have to!"

"That won't change his mind, Tails! He doesn't _make _deals! Why would he stall off killing Sonic for _any _reason if he didn't have to?"

Tails had no answer. His ears drooped.

"What if you gave me… what?" Zorro asked curiously.

Tails thought for a good answer. He couldn't tell him what he had really been thinking. "An Emerald… a… a Chaos Emerald!" He lied quickly.

"Hah! I have no use for one of those pathetic things." Without another thought, Zorro released Sonic towards the water.

"WAIT!"

Zorro reached down and grabbed Sonic's wrist, pulling him back up. Though he wasn't being choked anymore, the hedgehog was bordering unconsciousness due to lack of air and could not say anything. Tails could tell he was trying to take deep breaths to stay awake.

"What!?"

"That's the real Master Emerald! Right there!" Tails hollered, pointing at the top of the shrine. Maybe the Emerald had helped him, and maybe Zorro would steal it now, but that was worth keeping his best friend alive. Knuckles didn't yell at him – apparently Sonic was important enough to him to risk sacrificing the Emerald.

"You… you liars!" Zorro accused. He froze for a split second, looking right into Tails' eyes, and the kitsune knew his thoughts were being penetrated. "Your mind is honest now. That is the true Master Emerald. You tried to trick me!"

"Take the it! I won't try to stop you!"

"As if you could!" With that, Zorro released Sonic again.

"NO!"

Once again, he caught Sonic by the arm before he descended too far.

"What else can I do so you keep him alive? I'll do anything!" Tails, again, started to say he would give him the Super Emeralds they had, but Zorro interrupted him before he could do so.

"Nothing. I won't waste another five minutes of my life while you try to convince me to spare him. There is nothing you can do." Sonic's wrist was released again.

"_PLEASE DON'T!_" Tails begged, falling to his knees. Zorro didn't reach down and catch him again. Sonic was already speeding like a bullet towards the water. "NO! SONIC!"

He ran towards the edge of the island as fast as he could, but felt a hand wrap around his waist before he could jump. It was Knuckles. "Stop it, Tails! It's too late!" He set the fox on the ground roughly and ran after Zorro, who was heading for the Master Emerald. He leaped and glided to the top of the alter, getting there just before Zorro and wrapping his arms around the Emerald. Tails watched as he ran off into the forest, their enemy at his heels.

Now Sonic was gone, and so was the Emerald. Tails miserably got to his feet and looked down from the edge of Angel Island, where he knew Sonic had splashed into the water just seconds ago. There was no sign of him. Tears blurred his vision and stung his eyes as he whispered,

"What have I done?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sonic closed his eyes, preparing for impact with his biggest fear. The salty water of the ocean was rushing up to meet him at an unpleasantly fast pace. He was speeding down at such a velocity that there would be no hope of keeping himself above the surface, even if he could swim. Upon hitting the water, his momentum would bring him twenty feet under before he could even try to rise back up.

Before he knew it, water was rushing up his nose and fogging his eyes. Naturally, he tried to take in air, but only got another mouthful of water in his system. He coughed, then struggled to inhale, then choked even more. The inside of his nose stung from the salt, and the pain seemed to go all the way to his forehead. After a few more moments of torture, he stopped struggling; there was nothing he could do at this point.

For a moment, he thought he heard Tails' agonized screams. He turned over in the water, letting himself drown. It would be less painful that way. There wouldn't be as much panic.

Then he saw it, yards below him: a golden, donut-shaped object in the water, about the size of a record. What was _that? _It looked familiar somehow. There was something mysterious about it, too. It was spinning around slowly.

_What in the world? _Sonic thought to himself. As he thought this, he also noticed something else: he wasn't in as much discomfort anymore. He couldn't breathe, but he felt no urge to struggle. He should be unconscious by now, even dead. But he wasn't. Although his thoughts were somewhat unclear, he could still think. Was this something to do with the ring?

As he drifted closer, he was sure he had seen it before. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine the scenery that had been around it the last time he had seen it, but couldn't. He knew he'd be able to remember if he hadn't just been choked and drowned, but unfortunately, that was the case.

Sonic wondered what would happen if he touched it. Slowly, cautiously, he extended a hand as he neared the object. He drifted lower a few more feet until his hand was within inches of it. It gave off a bright, pink-orange light and for a split second he felt as if he could breathe again. He knew he could put himself in potential danger if he went any further, but at this point, what did he have to lose?

With that thought in mind, he closed off the distance between his hand and the orb and wrapped his fingers around it. A strange vibration shot up his arm, then throughout his whole body, but it didn't hurt. It was just _there._ All the sudden, the ring vanished from his hand, and then he was gone.

**Well, there you have it! There's part one of a two-part chapter series. It was one chapter originally, but it was so long that I decided to split it up. Hope you enjoyed it all the same!**

**Please review – especially today, because I want to know what adaptation you all would be most interested in. I know that some time ago I said I would do the Sonic Adventure series and Sonic Heroes, but I'm only going to do that if that's what people want to read. So go ahead and share your thoughts if you're reading this; I'd really appreciate it. **

**Or, if you want a spin-off of any of the games in the SEGA Sonic series, I'd be happy to do that as well. I just need to hear from as many of you as possible so I don't put up a story no one will read!**


	11. Chapter 11: Secret of the Spinning Orb 2

**I haven't updated in a month and a half (so you might wanna take a quick look back at the last chapter to make sure you remember what's going on). I think that's the longest record yet. The reason is because I've begun working on several other stories to be uploaded soon. But I've decided to make this one top priority until I finish it, so hopefully the next updates will be faster.**

**Hehe, by the way, I forgot to proofread the last chapter I put up, and noticed a few errors. Sorry 'bout that! I think the worst of it was a quite dorky line from Tails: "Take the it!"**

**For those of you who know Sonic 3 and Knuckles… you'll have no problem understanding this chapter!**

CHAPTER 11: The Secret of the Spinning Orb – Part 2

Sonic opened his eyes. His entire body was still trembling, especially the hand that had been holding the gold orb not too long ago. He felt tense, as if the center of gravity was his stomach and it was pulling the rest of him towards it. He was surrounded by a blinding white aura that was so bright he could not see beyond it. The most unnerving part, though, was that there was no ground beneath him.

After approximately two seconds, the hedgehog did what any other normal person in his situation would have done: "_AHHHHHHH!!_"

After that, the light surrounding him gradually faded. Before him now was a black abyss with no floor, no ceiling, and no walls. For a horrific moment, Sonic wondered, _Am I falling?_

He took an uneasy step forward. It echoed like thunder. But he was, in fact, standing on something solid. Why was it invisible?

Vigilantly, he proceeded forward, expecting to feel a falling sensation with every step he took. It wasn't every day he walked on what was apparently thin air. After a while, he noticed a familiar glowing off in the distance. He squinted to get a better look.

"No way! How could I have forgotten?" Sonic exclaimed, hearing his voice echo half a dozen times around him. "That golden ring… it's a teleportation device to where the next Super Emerald is!"

Sonic paused for a moment, thinking this through. "I wonder why it always looks so… different? I mean, this giant abyss isn't anything like I've ever seen before. And the last time I found one of those rings, back before we destroyed the Death Egg, it took me to some spherical, checker-board like world where I could only touch the blue orbs because the red ones would teleport me back to where I came from.

_That's because it literally is, out of this world. _Sonic jumped. _Apologies. You must have not expected that._

"That's okay!" Sonic said quickly. "How… how did you get inside my head from… wherever you are?"

_Well, I am the Master Emerald after all – I achieved this by communicating through the Super Emeralds. You do realize that that's what the glowing off in the distance belongs to, right?_

"Yeah, just figured that out," Sonic answered, again squinting at the glowing Super Emerald.

_The only reason you are in so many unfamiliar places when teleporting through those rings is because sometimes, when the Super Emeralds are still in one place for long enough, their power allows them to arrange or even create molecules and atoms to make into their own little worlds. It's not as if they do it consciously like I would; they have no consciousness. This is just what happens when there is so much energy in one place. It creates more matter around them._

"So, what would happen if I were to just stumble upon one of these Super Emerald worlds without going through the ring?"

_It's not possible. The giant ring is a form of protection that makes it so the Emerald-created matter is invisible. You were in this world even before you touched the ring. You just did not know it. The giant ring's only purpose is to make all of this, including the Super Emerald, visible._

"How come we found two other Super Emeralds without having to deal with this?"

_They, apparently, have not been completely still for a long enough period of time. Whenever a Super Emerald is moved around too much, matter cannot proceed to form around it because of the disturbance._

"Okay, one more thing: what do I do, now?"

_You're smart. You can figure it out. Good luck._

"What!?" Sonic waited a moment, but no response came. He sighed.

Not knowing what else to do, he turned towards the glowing Emerald and ran. "If I haven't fallen into the darkness yet, I don't think I will!" He sped up, noticing that he didn't seem to be getting any closer. "What the heck? It's running away from me or something!" He slowed down, and it was only when he came to a stop that he noticed a small, tile-like shape on the 'floor' some distance away. It was the same pink-orange color as the Emerald. He knew that had something to do with getting the Emerald.

Shrugging, he ran towards it. Thankfully, it actually _did _get closer as he approached, unlike the Emerald. He stepped onto it. The mysterious tile felt no different than the invisible floor he had been on before, but it glowed brighter as he stepped. Almost as soon as it had illuminated itself, though, it disappeared, and appeared again a ways ahead of him. He looked at the Super Emerald and realized it looked slightly closer than before.

"Okay, this lighted mark will take me to it if I keep stepping on it," Sonic declared. Upon reaching it again, he realized it was a few feet above him. He would have to jump really high to reach it. "I knew it couldn't be that easy."

Sonic bent his knees, crouching down low, then sprung into the air, raising his arms above him. He felt the tips of his fingers hit the glowing mark and grabbed onto it as best as he could. He lifted his feet up, kicking the air as he tried to get higher. His fingers slipped ever so slightly.

Then he began swinging, back and forth, as if he were a gymnast swinging from a bar. Once he felt he was high enough, he swung backwards one last time and released at the highest point, doing a flip in the air and slamming his feet onto the tile. He seemed to fall right through it as it disappeared beneath his feet, and appeared on the floor even closer to the Super Emerald.

Again, Sonic ran towards it, but as he neared, he noticed it was stretching itself and becoming longer. It formed one large hill, then another, and finally a third. If you were to walk next to the side of it, you would be able to go under any of the hills as if they were bridges.

The hedgehog grinned – this looked like fun! He stepped back a few steps and lowered himself to the ground, then grabbed his knees and began somersaulting, going faster and faster as he neared the hill. He spin dashed all the way up, rocketed off the top like it was a ramp, then landed on at the top of the second one and rolled down. His momentum brought him over the third one, which was the smallest, and then he uncurled and got to his feet again.

He looked over his shoulder. The hills had already disappeared – he was staring at only a black abyss.

The glowing spot reappeared again, as the small two-by-two square it had been before. It was hovering in the air like it had done the second time, but this time it was rising and falling. When it reached its lowest point, Sonic leapt onto it. It carried him up to another tile, which Sonic promptly stepped onto. It immediately sped forward. Sonic, who hadn't expected it, stumbled a bit to maintain his balance. Like the other one, it came to a halt a few seconds later in front of another glowing mark. This one was round.

Sonic got on it, and the middle of it sank a little beneath his weight, like a trampoline would. He jumped, then landed, then jumped again, and continued the process. There was another glowing 'trampoline' not too far ahead, but he wanted to get high enough; he didn't know if he'd be able to get back up here again if he missed.

The hedgehog slammed his feet on the mark one last time and then moved forward, literally taking a huge leap of faith. But not quite huge enough…

"No, no, _noooo!_" He just barely reached it: he was dangling from it with one hand. Carefully, he managed to get on top of it the same way he had done it last time he had been in this situation.

This one was another trampoline. There was also one above him that was upside down at an angle towards the one after that. _That _one appeared to lead to a normal mark – one that hopefully wouldn't send him ricocheting into the air.

"This'll be interesting!" Sonic said. He bounded as high as he could into the air, then landed. The trampoline mark sprung him all the way to the upside down one above him. Reacting quickly, he turned over and shoved his feet into it. His momentum turned around as he was forced back down at a forty-five degree angle at the last trampoline, which bounced him straight up towards another one, which he grabbed onto with his hands. He pulled himself on top. Then it dropped. Sonic gasped as the solidness disappeared from under his feet.

"_AHHHHHHHHHH!!_" He clung to the tile for dear life – it was falling at a dangerously fast pace. Had he messed up, or something? Was there another route he was supposed to have taken? Before he could even try to answer his own questions, he slammed against the ground painfully. The force took his breath away for a moment, but during that moment, he realized his arm had hit something else: the Super Emerald.

Before he could get back up, the whiteness that had accompanied him the first time surrounded him again and he disappeared, along with the black abyss that had been around him for the past ten minutes. The Super Emerald, though, came with him; he could feel it in his fingers.

Through his eyelids, he could tell the bright aura around him faded. He opened them, realizing he was under water again. Now, though, he was clutching the Super Emerald instead of the ring.

_So much for that! I'm going to die, anyway!_ Sonic thought. _Or…_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I got it! That bastard!"

Tails turned around to see Knuckles carrying the Master Emerald back to its rightful place. He was bruised and battered, but not seriously injured otherwise.

"How?" Tails asked, walking towards him and away from the edge of the island, where he had been sitting since Zorro dropped Sonic.

"Pure luck. Eggman contacted him through a com-link on his wrist and told him to come back to the base _immediately._

"Oh," Tails said. _I might know why, _he thought, recalling that Zorro said he would be punished for allowing him to escape. He felt a twinge of sympathy, but it diminished quickly as he looked out over the water again.

"Are you gonna be all right?" Knuckles asked him.

Tails shook his head, then abruptly turned away and started crying again. Knuckles put an arm around him (albeit just a little bit hesitantly). From their last adventure together, the echidna knew how much Sonic meant to Tails. The fox had _never _given up trying to save Sonic from that base, not once.

"You're going to have to move on eventually, kid," Knuckles told him. "With all that guy has been through, it was bound to happen one day."

"I will _not let Zorro live for this!!!_" Tails screamed. "I don't care _how _bad I felt for him the other day in that jungle…!"

Knuckles didn't question Tails about what he meant. He could ask him later – right now, the fox probably wasn't in the mood. "We'll find Zorro, okay?" Knuckles said. He wasn't the best at comforting people, having lived alone most of his life, but he was trying.

"What about Sonic? It's been ten minutes since he went under! I've had hope for every other situation Sonic's been in, but there's no _way _he's still alive…" Tails stopped and looked at his Knuckles with his red, puffy eyes, almost as if wanting to be comforted. But Knuckles, entirely honest, wasn't about to give Tails false hope.

"No," he said. "He's not."

The young fox just shook his head. _Oh my gosh… he's actually dead this time._ He shifted his gaze back to the water so far below them. "I swear, I can still see him right where he went under," Tails said through sniffles. "Why can't hallucinations be real…?"

Knuckles' eyes widened. "Tails, you're not hallucinating! I see it, too!"

"_What?_"

Right at that moment, Sonic shot upward out of the water and ascended four hundred feet in the air, leveling himself with the island. Salt water blasted upward around him in a thin, translucent circle like a giant fountain. The water didn't come back down immediately due to Sonic's power; it continued to rocket upwards, reflecting the light of the hedgehog's gleaming fur so that both Tails and Knuckles had to squint from the brightness.

"_How _does he _do _it?" Knuckles questioned, thunderstruck. He thought he heard Tails say something along the lines of, "Who cares, he's okay, isn't he!?" in an extremely excited voice. Then the fox ran and jumped off the edge of the island, using his tails to boost his leap and propel him forward. He splashed through the ascending water and only came to a stop when he was in Sonic's arms.

"You found a Super Emerald!" Tails exclaimed. He knew Sonic couldn't have used the one he already had, as it was probably fake.

Sonic nodded. "I was lucky," He said quietly, sincerely.

"Are you okay?" The orange fox asked, remembering how hard it had been for them to tap in to the Super Emerald's power on the Death Egg three years ago. This was the first time Sonic had transformed since then.

"I'm fine," Sonic told him. "The amount of power in a single Super Emerald is the same as all seven Chaos Emeralds, so it basically felt like I was turning into Super Sonic. It's only when you use more than one that it gets tough."

"How'd you—"

"C'mon, let's get back on solid ground first," Sonic said, placing a hand on his friend's back (avoiding the spinning tails) and leading him back towards the island. The water around them fell back into the ocean.

"Tails, we should never expect him to actually be dead," Knuckles told him as they landed. "That would be too good to be true." He snickered jokingly and gave Sonic (who had just returned to his normal blue color again) a friendly punch on the arm. Sonic started to retort when Tails interrupted.

"I know how you got it!" He exclaimed. "There was a ring under there, wasn't there? Wasn't there?" Tails asked excitedly.

"Mm-hmm, why?" Sonic asked, half-mindedly noticing that the Emerald in his hand had lost its color when he stopped using it, just like the other ones.

"I remember that! After Eggman locked you in that base a few months ago, and Amy and I were trying to find Chaos Emeralds so we could save you, the Emerald-detecting thingy I had started pulling the plane towards the water that you _just fell in!_"

"So you're saying—"

"It wasn't a Chaos Emerald it detected! It was a _Super _Emerald! And I totally forgot about it after we found all seven Chaos Emeralds. If only I'd have remembered, we could have had it long before—"

"If you would have remembered earlier, I'd probably be dead right now," Sonic retorted. "If that ring hadn't been there…" Sonic shuddered at the thought. "Oh man, I never want to touch water again! I hope you never have to know the feeling of drowning!"

"That was _so _close," Tails said.

"We've come too close too many times," Sonic added. "The first time we ever fought him, he ended up beating you until you were unconscious and bleeding to death. Then when I ran off, he sent his bots after me and I would have died there if you hadn't pulled me out of there. And from what Amy tells me, you were knocked out in the sewers before he took you to the jungle and was planning on killing you once he fetched Eggman…"

"Wow, where's the four leaf clover?" Knuckles remarked.

"He's right," Sonic said. "Pure luck has brought us through all of this."

"Yeah," Tails said. His ears drooped and he hung his head. "Even when I was fighting Zorro here before he threw you into the ocean. The only reason I did that good was because the Master Emerald lent me some of its power."

_No, I didn't. It was all you… I only told you I did so you'd _think_ you had some of my power, therefore gaining more determination._

"Really?"

_You heard me._

Tails smiled, looking at Knuckles and Sonic. "Good job, buddy," Sonic said.

"So, what were you saying, Sonic?"

"What I was getting at was, we need to go to the Hidden Palace and charge these things, just like we did last time. We both know we've been trying to avoid that, but they just don't _work._ I don't think there's another way."

"There's not," Knuckles confirmed. "If there was, I'd know about it."

"What's the difference," Tails began, "between charging the Emeralds here and charging them there? Not that it matters where we do it because it'll be the same either way… I'm just wonderin'."

Knuckles led Sonic and Tails towards one of the pillars near the shrine. "According to these ancient hieroglyphics," He paused and pointed to a series of pictures that neither Sonic nor Tails could identify, "the Hidden Palace is a magical place that was first formed when the Master Emerald could no longer keep its power under control. The energy it released was enough to distort matter itself, creating the Palace and the seven Super Emeralds."

"So it basically did what the Super Emerald I found a few minutes ago did, right?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles nodded and continued: "The guardian of the Master Emerald at the time happened to have the Master Emerald in the forest on the Island nearest to this one. The forest's path, though, is like a maze. It wouldn't be easy to get to."

"Will there be a giant ring at the edge of the forest, then?" Tails asked. "Just like with the Super Emeralds?"

"Yep," Knuckles and Sonic answered at the same time.

"It's hard to remember all this. I remember basically what happened, but not all the details and stuff."

"You were only four," Sonic reminded him. "So Knuckles, when do you suggest we go their?"

"I wouldn't wait too long, if I were you. Even if you don't have all the Emeralds, you can always come back."

"But Sonic, what about our second Super Emerald? Didn't you think it was a fake?"

"You're right. We'll figure that out first and then—"

"Let me see," Knuckles interrupted. The hedgehog gave him the suspicious Emerald. He turned it over in his hands a few times, then handed it back to Sonic. "Good eye. It's fake, all right. Eggman gave it to you?"

"I guess you could say that," Sonic said, recalling his threat to kill Eggman if he didn't hand it over.

"Okay, first things first: we find Eggman and get that Emerald! For all we know, he could be giving it to Zorro right now. If that happens, the chances of winning go way down," The echidna said.

"You and I will go after Eggman," Sonic said to him, "And Tails, I suggest you take our two real Super Emeralds for now and try to transform with them. Knux is an Emerald expert so he shouldn't have too much difficulty with it, and I'm pretty experienced, but the only times I've ever seen you transform with _any _Emerald was on the Death Egg and that one time with a Chaos Emerald when you were busting me out of the Dome Base."

"But what about—"

"We'll be fine. Trust me, Tails, this'll help in the future."

"Okay," Tails agreed. He couldn't argue – Sonic was right. He hardly ever used the Emeralds. "So… meet me back at the workshop later, 'kay?"

"Sounds good."

"And… Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful. I don't want to have to add anything else to our list of near-death experiences."

**If any of this is getting confusing, please let me know so I can clear things up for readers who A) haven't read the first two stories in my series (shame on you!) or B) haven't played Sonic 3 and Knuckles. I think I'm doing an okay job at explaining things, but nobody's perfect. I try. :)**

**Just to let you know, that 'special stage,' for lack of better phrase, was my idea of a replacement for the stupid collect-the-blue-balls-but-not-red thing that we all know and hate from S3&K. Because who wants to go around collecting a bunch of **_**balls **_**anyway? LOL.**

**Thanks for reading, awesome peoples!**


	12. Chapter 12: No More Empty Threats

CHAPTER 12: No More Empty Threats

"Follow me, Sonic!" Knuckles said. They had reentered the forest where Knuckles had escaped with the Master Emerald not too long ago. "That metal fox chased me a little ways back here before Eggman told him to return to him. I'm just going to follow the forest's path and hope that he hasn't gotten too far yet."

"But the _last _thing I want to do is run into him right now!" Sonic protested.

"Why not? Are you forgetting that you just gave Tails the Super Emeralds?"

Sonic opened his mouth, then closed it. _Right. Stop being so paranoid._

"Besides, Sonic, I don't _want_ to let him know we're near. I just want to follow him to Eggman."

Sonic shrugged. It wasn't a bad plan. "Okay. We'll have to take on both of them at once if we do that, but why not add to the challenge?"

Tails was piloting the Tornado at excessive speeds away from the island. He wanted to get as far away from where Zorro was as possible before using the Super Emeralds. Not only would they lose if Zorro got his metal fingers on them, but Tails would lose Sonic's trust.

_He willingly gave me BOTH of our Super Emeralds without hesitation, _Tails thought proudly. _He must have been impressed enough with me when we fought Zorro on the island that he knows I can defend myself! I don't want that to change._

An hour passed by before Tails finally allowed himself to stop and land the plane. He was about twenty miles away from his workshop, but still in the Mystic Ruins. He was in a swampy area full of dirty water and vine-covered trees, but at least it was well-hidden. The steep, rocky hills were formed around the water in a way that made the area resemble a small canyon, and the trees ascended at least fifty feet in the air, casting dark shadows over the swamp. Lily pads and seaweed were everywhere.

It didn't matter to Tails, though, who was happy to be away from the action for a while. The fox could have collapsed on a large lily pad and gone right to sleep if he didn't have the Super Emeralds to worry about. "But I do," he sighed, and reluctantly pulled them out of his tails. He looked back and forth at each one of them, wondering if it would be smart to transform with both of them right now.

"I'll just try one, first," he decided. "Sonic said using one would be just like using all seven Chaos Emeralds, right? It would be like transforming into my Super form. I just have to think of it that way."

As much as he tried to convince himself, the kit was scared. Flashbacks were moving like a quick slideshow in his mind, and he could almost _feel _the overwhelming energy coursing through his veins and taking him over. He laid back on the moist grass, thinking it through one more time.

_The Emeralds spin uncontrollably around me and Sonic, each one threatening to hit me in the face as they zoom by. I can feel it, I can feel the pain tearing me apart, limb by limb. I can feel my muscles tightening up as I tense. They are so tight – even the ones in my throat – that I'm having trouble breathing. _

_I wonder briefly if Sonic can hear the loud thumps of my heartbeat or if he is being slowly tortured in the same manner I am and is paying no attention to me. My mouth is wide open; am I screaming? Or do I not even have the strength to? I can't tell. My ears, too, feel like they're suffering. Maybe the Emeralds are just spinning so quickly around me that the wind blocks off all other sound._

_Is there a way out of this? Is there!? It's becoming too much. I can't take it… I can't! I'd rather die if death is the only thing that will take the pain away. Why does it hurt so bad? Is it just because my body isn't built for this type of energy? Am I an electric circuit, and these Emeralds are like plugs that are about to blow a fuse?_

_Wait. The pain is starting to decrease, but only slightly. Either that, or I am beginning to adapt to it. The latter of the two sounds more appropriate, because the Super Emeralds are only spinning faster and faster around Sonic and me. I feel dizzy._

_Risking movement, I turn my head just enough to catch a glimpse of Sonic. He is still and his eyes are closed, but not tightly – not as if he is in pain. I almost believed he wasn't, but his clenched fists and strained breath gave it away. Watching him go through the same anguish I was going through only seemed to increase the intensity again, and I hear a bloodcurdling scream escape my throat._

_Then it's gone. Everything. I open my eyes, wondering if I've passed out or even if I'm dead, but the Emeralds are still there, spinning so quickly that they are nothing more than a blur. My vision is clear. I feel an unexplainable sense of rapture that completely contradicts the sensation I was feeling less than ten seconds ago. I look down at my body. I'm glowing a bright, lemon-yellow, the color of the sun on a clear day._

_To the left of me, Sonic is surrounded by a pure white aura. His eyes have gone several shades lighter; they're almost yellow. They have also taken a different shape. Normally, the outer corners of his eyes are rounded, giving them a friendly look. Now, they seem to be pointed. He looks creepy and even I'm unnerved. Then he makes eye contact with me and I know he's okay. Whew, I thought something had gone wrong. He nods once, I nod back, and we zoom on ahead._

"Whoa." Tails opened his eyes, not even realizing he had closed them, and quickly realized he was laying on wet ground. Had he _seriously _fallen asleep? He didn't even remember laying down! "I hate dreams," he muttered, pushing himself to his feet. He picked the two Super Emeralds up. "That dream… was almost exactly what happened when we transformed with all seven back then… but that was with all seven. This is only two. It won't be that bad, right?"

Suddenly, the fox remembered something that gave him a quite necessary burst of confidence. "The Master Emerald supplies them with their power. It's the same power that runs through the Master Emerald." While he didn't fully realize it, the fox had developed something like trust in the Master Emerald, which certainly helped the situation he was in right now.

"Okay… I have to at least try."

Without further procrastinating, he closed his eyes, clutching the two Super Emeralds tightly. "The servers…" He began hesitantly, then started again. "The servers are the seven… Super…?" Somehow, that didn't seem to fit. What was he supposed to say? Was he supposed to say _anything_?

"Wait… what if they don't even work?" Tails wondered aloud. The Emeralds were still both grey. "Sonic and Knuckles even said we'd have to charge them at the Palace eventually. But they must have _some_ power left. Otherwise, why would they even have me do this?"

Tails took a deep breath. He knew something he could try, but… would it work? Somehow, he genuinely hoped it would, nervous as he was. He didn't want to let Sonic and Knuckles down. He had to know how to work these things.

"Beyond the golden orb lies…" He started. Nothing happened. The Emeralds didn't so much as glow.

_Wait… the Chaos Emeralds react to what's in your heart. If you're evil and want to use their powers for destruction, then you'll have destructive powers. If you're good and determined to help people, then they'll help you transform into something invincible. If you're unsure and afraid, then… you're not giving the Emeralds any fuel. Maybe the Super Emeralds are the same way._

Tails growled unwaveringly and planted his feet, then announced loudly and confidently to the water and trees around him, "Beyond the golden orb lies an object radiating before your eyes… large and diamond-shaped as it lays, only to be used by the valiant and brave. More powerful than Chaos or existence itself, it's to be used correctly or cast into hell! It is your enemy, and your friend, it will exist eternally, until the end."

The young fox paused for a brief moment. Absolutely nothing was happening. If he was using the Chaos Emeralds, something would have happened by now. But he ignored it and continued. "There to save lives… or to kill, may they be used wisely, and only with will. For the wrath of the seven Super is unforgiving, as it is not just Chaos, it is very nearly… living."

As soon as the last word was spoken, the two Emeralds burst into life, shooting skyward and taking Tails with them. They spun around, and he spun with them, almost as if he was connected to them. Nothing hurt this time. In fact, he felt exhilarated. He felt a grin tug at his lips as he clutched the Emeralds tighter, feeling their heat warm his hands and shoot up his arms. He welcomed the sensation.

Finally, Tails' ascension came to a stop. He wasn't far below the tall treetops. He closed his eyes as the mysterious but comfortable hotness continued to spread throughout his body and, when he felt the time was right, opened them again and released the two Emeralds.

A brilliant silver-blue aura (which happened to be the colors of each respective Emerald) surrounded him completely. Even his tails, which were slightly larger and puffier than normal, were shaded in a metallic blue, he noticed as he looked over his shoulder. The yellow fur was still visible through the translucent shield, though.

He could also feel his ears pointing upward, along with the white fur on his cheeks, and his gloves and shoes were a shiny white. He felt comfortable and light as he floated in midair, not even spinning his tails.

"Say hello to _Super _Super Tails!" The fox said gleefully. He punched the air triumphantly – it almost seemed to ripple around him. "Sweet!" Smiling, Tails decided to test out some moves.

"I should see if I'm adept at all with even moving, first," he thought aloud. He made a movement to proceed forward, and found himself nearly smashing into a tree.

"Okay... super speed powers. Less effort. Right." The surprised kitsune turned away from the tree and tried again, this time putting only the amount of energy into his glide that he would put into walking. He found himself floating forward at a swift but controllable speed. "That's better. I didn't have this problem when I used the one Chaos Emerald I had to help free Sonic in the Dome Base. That's probably because it was only one… and these are two _Super _Emeralds."

As Tails continued adapting to this unfamiliar feeling, he fought to remember how he'd done it on the Death Egg over three years ago. He had only been four years old at the time, but somehow he'd managed to work his powers correctly.

_At age four, I obviously couldn't run very fast. So maybe I could only go so fast with the Emeralds, as well. Or maybe Sonic and Knuckles helped me figure it out. I'll have to ask them about it when I see them again._

"Knuckles, stop," Sonic warned, coming to a sudden halt on the path. Knuckles obeyed, nearly running into Sonic in the process.

"See them?" Knuckles whispered.

"I see Zorro. He's just _walking. _His tails are dragging, too. Is he still heading back to Eggman?"

"It doesn't matter. We have to do something. If he's here, though, Eggman can't be too far ahead.

"You're right. And if we sneak past him and go after Eggman, he'll catch up eventually and then we'll have _both _of them to worry about. I think we need to take care of him right here and now. The odds are better."

"Let _me _stall him off. If he doesn't see you with me, he'll think you're with Tails. Then you can go on ahead and get the Emerald from Eggman without having to worry about him." Knuckles suggested.

"All right," Sonic agreed. He knew Knuckles could handle Zorro on his own for a while.

"Hurry up, then," Knuckles said, shooing him away.

"Oh, I don't think speed will be a problem," the hedgehog assured. Then he turned off the path and cut through the forest in order to avoid the metal fox.Zorro had heard the sound, but Sonic was gone long before he turned around.

When he did turn, though, Knuckles thought he saw sadness in his eyes for a brief moment and wondered why, but before he could come to a conclusion the fox launched himself towards him. "Want a rematch, do you…"

As anticipated, it didn't take long for Sonic to catch up to Eggman. The hedgehog stopped only a mile or so later – he had heard a noise.

_It must be him. It sounds like the clanking of his robotic walker._

Keeping the path in his sight but remaining hidden in the berry bushes and pine trees, Sonic jogged in the direction of the noise. Now he could hear mumbling. Was he speaking into his com-link? The hedgehog stopped, listening closer.

"What is taking you so long? I told you to get back here as soon as possible!" Eggman hissed.

"I have my own problems right now!" A voice snapped. Sonic recognized the Tails-ish but dark voice of Zorro. "That Emerald Guardian is trying to rip my head off!"

"What!? Well, show him that you're the boss!"

"What do you _think _I'm doing, idiot? I have him on the ground right now!" Sonic bit his lip. That wasn't good.

"Great! Then—"

"Just shut up and let me finish him, Doctor, I'll be back in ten minutes!"

And then they were disconnected. Eggman grunted angrily at his creation's impatience. "Ah, forget him. I'm going to find that blue rodent. The updates on Zorro's system can wait – but not for long. I'll not have him showing Tails mercy ag—"

"What about a blue rodent?" Sonic interrupted from his hiding spot between two bushes.

"Sonic! Is that you!? Where are you?"

"I'm right here!" The hedgehog told him, jumping out and landing in front of Eggman's machine. For a few moments, they just stared at each other. "Such a shame your brilliant robot isn't here to help you, isn't it? You have nobody to protect you. Maybe your creations are good, but I want to see how _you _fight. Just you and me, doc."

"Coward!" Eggman spat. _He's only here because Zorro's not!_

"Yeah? I could say the same about you." Right then and there, Sonic rushed forward and delivered a snap kick to the walker's right leg, bending it in half. The machine collapsed and Eggman tumbled out. "Let's see what you've got, Eggy!"

Sonic knew he was being cruel, but all he wanted to do right now was scare the life out of his opponent. He deserved it after all the pain Eggman had put him through thus far.

Eggman had no words, no smart comebacks, and no hidden robots to defend him.

In other words, he was screwed.

"I… surrender?" He squealed.

"Uh-huh. I'm the coward, right?" Sonic said, a smug smirk on his face.

"What do you want from me?"

To answer his question, Sonic jumped forward and wrapped both hands around Eggman's flabby throat and slammed him into a tree. He kept his grip as Eggman, hurting and weak, sank into a sort of sitting position against the tree. Sonic was standing directly between his legs. _And what I great target I can kick if I need to, _he thought vituperatively.

"Sonic, what—"

"I want any Super Emeralds you have," he said with his usual grin, keeping a casual tone despite the situation he had just put Eggman in. "And if I even _think _that you _might _be trying to scam me again, I will kill you. You won't hear any more empty threats from me." Sonic knew he wasn't a killer, and it wouldn't be easy to do, but if killing Eggman was what he had to do to save the world from destruction – now or ever in the future – then he would do it.

However, if Eggman continued to cower when in the losing position, then Sonic would have no need to take such action, since the doctor almost always ended up in the losing position anyway.

"Okay, okay... in my machine…!"

"That was all I needed to know," Sonic said, releasing Eggman. He ran back to the damaged walker and looked inside. A small, brown bag was nestled in the nearest corner. Sonic carefully picked it up, opened it, and examined its contents.

_You see three in there. The largest one is the real one – the others are decoys just like the one you have. Take the big one._

Sonic smiled. That Master Emerald was an incredible helper. He took the one he was instructed to take and threw the other two, along with the fake he had, aside ('accidentally' hitting Eggman with one). For a few moments, he wondered if demanding for the other three Emeralds inside of Zorro wasn't a bad idea...

_Speaking of which, I'm surprised he hasn't caught up to us by now… he will soon, though. On second thought, I'd better get out of here and find Knuckles and Tails._

"Well, thanks Eggman, but I have to get going now. If you find the other two, make defeating you a little easier and give me a call, m'kay?" Smirking, Sonic gave him a thumbs-up (which was returned by a _finger_ up) and headed back the way he had come, chuckling all the way.

**I thought it was time to make Eggman suffer a little. What do you think? Anyway, the next chapter will be up soon, and I think it may surprise you.**


	13. Chapter 13: The Fall of Station Square

**I think this chapter is just a little short compared to my other ones. Sorry about that. I'm going to try and make the next few longer, because I know the last chapter was short as well.**

CHAPTER 13: The Fall of Station Square

"I can't believe how awesome this is!" Tails squealed, zooming in and out of the surrounding trees. "It's so easy!"

The fox had been enjoying the company of the Super Emeralds for the last hour or so, making up cool fighting moves and seeing how fast he could go without hitting anything. He had already rammed head-on into several branches and even one bird, but the shield protected him from harm.

"I wonder if Sonic enjoys it this much? I know I'm _never _gonna take it for granted!" The young fox was so ecstatic that he didn't even notice his fur begin to return to its original color. "Speaking of which, I wonder if he found Eggman? I hope he's all right!"

Worry took him over. He had completely forgotten about Sonic and suddenly regretted leaving his side at all. _What if something went wrong? What if he ran into Zorro? The last thing I want is for something bad to happen to him._

Tails reflected on what had happened to Sonic earlier in the year. Eggman alone had tortured him, broken his legs, and paralyzed him. He didn't want to imagine what Zorro could do.

_Wow, I've never thought of what it would be like if Sonic actually _died _before. And it's come so close to happening so many times. I've got to go find him. I'm making it my goal from now on to make sure I do everything I possibly can to keep Zorro's hands off of him – even if it means sacrificing myself. Sonic's been through enough._

As if on cue, his com-link beeped. He lifted his wrist and said hopefully, "Sonic?"

"Yep, it's me, bro. You okay?"

The fox beamed. "I'm fine!" He said almost too happily, unable to hide his relief. "Did you get it?"

"The Super Emerald? 'Course I did. It was no problem."

"Where's Knuckles?"

"Right next to me. He's okay, too, aside from a few bruises," Sonic responded.

"Thank goodness! Oh, and guess what? I got the Super Emeralds to w—" Tails broke off.

"Tails?"

"AHHHH!!" The fox screamed as he suddenly began to fall downward. He belly-flopped the swamp water, making a loud splash.

"Tails, what's going on?" Knuckles beeped in, concerned.

The fox pulled himself onto an extremely large lily pad, laughing and coughing at the same time. "Never…mind…" he managed.

"What was _that _all about?"

"The Super Emeralds just decided to stop working," he said through laughter. "Guess I forgot they were low on energy, hehehe…"

It was about eight in the evening by the time Tails returned from the Island with Sonic. Knuckles, of course, had immediately returned to the Master Emerald to do his job. The two of them were sitting on the grass of the Mystic Ruins (the Tornado some ten feet behind them), looking out over the water as the sun set and debating what their next course of action should be.

"You're absolutely sure this Emerald is real?" Tails questioned for the second time. "We could always go back to the workshop and I could use my—"

"Even if we ran or took the Tornado, it'd still take an hour to get there. Trust me, okay? It's not another fake. I made sure of that."

"Well, what are we going to do? Don't you think we should be going after Eggman and Zorro right now?"

"No," Sonic responded sternly. "First, we need to charge the Emeralds. But we might need Knuckles' help to do that, and not to mention, I don't quite remember where the Hidden Palace was."

"Beyond a forest on Angel Island. It's a few miles south of the shrine," Tails answered. He raised an eyebrow, confused as to how he even _knew _that, then remembered one of the dreams he'd had about it. "It's like a maze, though," he continued. "It won't be easy to get through. But we can do it."

"Now that's the attitude! But I don't think it'll hurt to wait until tomorrow. It's getting dark, so I can't tell, but I'm sure both of our eyes are bloodshot. Either way, though, you need a good night's sleep after using those Emeralds today. When you stop using them and allow them to restore their energy, it's like they take some of your energy with them."

"Wait, they can restore their energy? Why would we even need to take them to the Palace, then?" Tails asked.

"Because it would take a long time, even if you hadn't used them earlier. It'd take weeks, and I'm not so sure we can stand to wait that long."

Tails put a finger on his chin, trying to understand all this. Then, he remembered what the Master Emerald's whisper had told him the first time it had come to him.

_"Every second of every day, the Master Emerald's energy level increases ever so slightly. As life goes on, there comes a time once every several years when it contains too much energy… and it needs somewhere to release some of it. This is where the Chaos Emeralds come into play. They already have their power, but when the Master Emerald deposits some of its own into them, they become strengthened beyond measure."_

_"But are they dull and grey like this normally?" Tails asked._

_"Yes."_

_"Why is that? Didn't you just say the Master Emerald released some of its energy into them?"_

_"I said it was going to happen. It hasn't happened yet, and it won't happen until you get all four remaining Emeralds to the Hidden Palace."_

"Wait. Wait a second," Tails said. "So… if these Emeralds haven't had any energy put into them… how did I transform with them?" He thought aloud.

"Well, think about it for a minute. They're actually the Chaos Emeralds, right? They're only big and grey now because they have room for more power. They only have _potential _to be Super Emeralds because the Master Emerald allowed them to transform, but they don't have the strength of Super Emeralds yet."

"So… you mean to say that I only transformed earlier with the strength of two _Chaos _Emeralds?" Tails asked, infuriated. His ears drooped. "No wonder they ran out of power so fast."

Sonic grinned, in spite of the broken look on Tails' face. "Hey, I know you're worried about transforming with the Super Emeralds. It's going to be hard for me, too," he said. "It was last time."

Tails just nodded.

"At least you know you can do it," Sonic continued with a shrug. "And if you can do it with two Chaos Emeralds, you can just as easily do it with seven. It's not that much harder, believe it or not."

"But those are _Chaos _Emeralds!" Tails protested. "I've got to transform with the Super Emeralds!"

"And so do I."

"But you're more experienced than I am!"

"Not really, if you transformed as easily as you say you did earlier. Even though that was really just the strength of Chaos Emeralds, that's all I ever transform with, either. As far as Super Emeralds go… I'm not any more experienced than you are." Sonic paused and looked down at his friend. "We're in the same boat, bro. We're walking through the same pile of crap together, and we're going to get through it together."

Tails chuckled a little at Sonic's odd turn of phrase. The light from the sunset reflected off his slightly watering eyes as he turned to look at him. "Yeah. We will."

_Misery loves company, _Sonic thought to himself, rolling his eyes. "C'mon, let's head to Station Square. It's less than ten minutes away from here and we can get a hotel room for the night." Sonic stood up and hopped in the Tornado. Tails lifted himself off the ground with his tails and landed in the pilot seat, revving up the engine.

"Hold on tight to those Super Emeralds!" Tails warned. Then the biplane blasted forward, its wheels whipping the water as they retracted. Once they were up high, Tails looked down over the Ruins and the ocean. "It's really pretty, isn't it?" He asked.

"Sure is," Sonic answered, smiling genuinely.

"Hm, I didn't realize the city was so close," Tails said as he looked ahead further. "We're already out of the Ruins. For some reason I thought we landed further back than that, but I guess not."

They were over the water now, and both of them could see the huge field that they almost always flew over before getting to Station Square. After a few more minutes, Tails began to descend the plane, choosing to land it in the field instead of outside of whatever hotel they were going to. He didn't want to take the risk of it getting stolen, especially in such a huge and busy city.

"Coming to a stop," he told Sonic, who gripped the brown bag tighter. The landing was smoother than expected, though; Tails had found a particularly level spot on the field. "Let's go. We'll just have to go a little ways on foot to get there."

"Fine by me," the hedgehog replied, grabbing Tails by the wrist. "Hang on tight!" The fox did, and Sonic sped forward, kicking up dirt and grass behind him.

Less than a minute later, the city was in view. As soon as the hedgehog saw it, he stopped so fast that he almost fell. "No way!"

"Sonic?" Tails, who had been having too much fun during the quick ride, asked. Then, he saw what Sonic saw. "Oh my gosh! The whole city's on fire! Sonic!" He tugged Sonic forward, who snapped out of his trance and ran along with him. It seemed to get worse and worse as they approached.

_The buildings are demolished… cars are flipped over… everything's destroyed! No! Our city! I can't believe what I'm seeing!_

But the horrible discoveries weren't about to stop there. What they saw next shocked them beyond belief.

There was a child laying in the middle of the road.

Sonic yanked Tails ahead (a bit more roughly than intended), getting to the young boy as quickly as he could. He sank to his knees and carefully sat him up, seeing that he was still awake… but just barely. His face was pale; from fear or blood loss he couldn't determine.

"Are you okay?" He asked gently. He knew that making any sudden movements or talking too loudly could be dangerous and kept his tone calm. "We're going to find help, okay? Just hang in there," Sonic smiled encouragingly, but the boy, who looked no more than five, was in obvious pain. He was bleeding in multiple places and did not seem able to move.

Tails tapped Sonic on the shoulder once, then said slowly, "I've… seen him before… he gave us a Chaos Emerald when you were trapped in the base…"

The child, hearing Tails' voice, looked at him and smiled weakly in recognition. The fox leaned down and gently grabbed his fragile hand. He felt his throat constrict.

"Tails..." he said. His voice was so quiet that Tails had to lean down to hear him. "I… yelled at 'im and told 'im to be a good guy… and he cut me with his tails an' he—" The boy stopped abruptly, then began coughing up blood.

"We'll save him, Tails," Sonic said quietly, sincerely. "He'll be okay."

But by the time Sonic looked back at the boy, his eyes were closed and his body had gone limp. He heard a quiet gasp from his friend. His stomach jolted as he realized what had just happened.

"He… died…" Tails tried to say. Sonic could only understand because of the movement of his lips – not a sound came out of his mouth.

"Tails…" Sonic said empathetically, shaking his head. _I cannot believe that just happened. Tails is going to be scarred for life. And that kid… _Sonic looked back at the boy. _That's too young to die._

"Sonic!!" Tails bawled. He was crying so hard that he was shaking.

"Shh, don't say anything," was all the hedgehog said in response. Tails leaned his head on Sonic's shoulder and Sonic wrapped an arm around him. He didn't speak for nearly five minutes, and when he did, it was a tone that Tails had never heard him use before.

"I know what it feels like," Sonic told him.

Tails hiccupped a few times, then looked up at Sonic, letting him know he was paying attention. Sonic began to tell a story.

"Just months before I met you was the first time I ever saw Eggman. On South Island, he was capturing all the animals he could find in little capsules. Then he was going to turn them into robots, but I managed to get to every area of the island in time to release them from their prisons. The Green Hill, Spring Yard, Scrap Brain zones… and others…

"I freed all of them except for one capsule, apparently, because a few days after I defeated Eggman, there were reports of about fifteen residents of the area confirmed to be missing or dead – the same amount of animals I found in the rest of the capsules. I later found out that there had been another prison in the Scrap Brain zone that I never found. I wanted to go find it, but the area blew up when I destroyed Eggman's machine. When I realized I had failed and let those innocent animals die, I thought I'd never be the same.

"But someone came into my life that helped me move on, that made me realize that while I was wallowing in my self pity, I was letting more people get hurt when I could be saving them. He allowed me to move on and be as optimistic about life as I am today."

Tails sniffled. "Who?"

"You."

"M—me?"

"You. You were always so happy and carefree… you made life brighter again. And when you started following me around, I knew I had to protect you from Eggman, especially because you were young at the time and couldn't fight for yourself that well. And I knew that by helping you and all the other people around me, I could prevent Eggman from bringing harm to anybody else. I made it my mission not to let anybody suffer at Eggman's mercy ever again because I didn't want to feel that guilt, that disappointment."

"And I helped you?" Tails asked, a bit confused.

"Yes. You were the first person I met who I actually developed a close friendship with. I liked you a lot, and I cared about you, and I was willing to do anything to keep you from harm. And then I thought to myself, 'what makes all these other innocent people I'm ignoring any different? You need to protect them, too.' My perspective changed completely at that point, and I wanted to dedicate my life to helping people."

"Wow, I didn't even realize I did anything," Tails replied.

"You did it _all_, my friend."

Before their conversation could continue, a loud siren sounded nearby. Sonic and Tails looked in the direction of the sound and saw several cop cars speeding around a corner and towards them.

"We should let them take care of this," Sonic suggested, carefully picking up the presumably dead boy as the cars came to a stop. "The cops will be able to find out who did it."

"Find out?" Tails asked. "I think it's pretty obvious who did it."

"I don't know," Sonic said, to Tails' surprise. "Eggman wouldn't sink that low."

"But Zorro would," Tails said.

"Sonic! Tails!" The first cop yelled as he got out of his car. "What happened, here? Whose child is this?"

"We don't know, sir," Sonic responded. "But he didn't make it. He… died just as we got here." The hedgehog closed his eyes, unable to deny the shame. Tails wiped a hand across his face again.

"…Eggman… did this?"

"Not exactly. There's a robot on the loose by the name of Zorro. He looks almost exactly like Tails and he's really powerful. Keep an eye out, but don't hurt _this _Tails by mistake. The robot's tails are different than his, so you'll be able to tell."

"Right. Th—thank you," the cop responded. He held out his arms. Sonic gently handed over the small boy. "Take him to the nearest hospital just in case it's not too late."

"Do you know his name?"

Sonic shook his head. "Worry about that later. Just hurry, okay? C'mon, Tails."

The fox nodded and followed Sonic. They quickly headed back the way they had came. "Sonic," Tails began. "I think we need to go to the Hidden Palace right now. We can't wait any longer."

"You're right. Zorro could be destroying more cities right now."

"Sonic, how could he do that to an innocent little kid?"

"The Super Emeralds," Sonic said simply. "When their powers are used for the wrong purposes, they take you over."

"Sonic," Tails asked for the third time. "What if… Zorro wins?"

The hedgehog remained silent for a few seconds as they ran, then said, "Another thing I learned after I started fighting Eggman is that if you think bad thoughts like that, you're going to lose for sure. Just keep the faith, Tails. In the end, everything will be okay again, just like it always is. I promise."

**So. Surprised? Upset? About to chase me with a stick?**

**Sad chapter, I know, but it explained my version of some of Sonic's past and brought our two heroes closer together. So, what happened to the kid? If you ask me, it didn't look good, but I'll leave that decision up to you. It won't be typed here.**


	14. Chapter 14: Thunderstruck

CHAPTER 14: Thunderstruck

After helping the police, Sonic and Tails began making their way to the Hidden Palace as quickly as possible. They both knew that another minute couldn't be spared. Buildings weren't the only things being destroyed anymore. _Lives _were being destroyed. Zorro was killing anybody who was even on the same road he was running.

_And he's going to be hot on our trail before long, _Sonic thought. Even he was anxious at this point. He gripped onto the soft brown bag in his hand even tighter, as if it were to be stolen from him at any given second.

_But I wonder how… he's causing so much destruction and pain so quickly? I know that little boy wasn't the only one who lost his life back there. There had to have been others. For goodness sake, the entire city was going down in flames. I wish we would have gotten there sooner… but in order to do that, we'd have never found our third Super Emerald, and that would have only made things worse. I guess it's a lose-lose situation._

"Sonic, it's starting to rain," Tails declared, interrupting Sonic's train of thought. He stopped abruptly.

"I noticed. What's wrong with that?" The hedgehog asked, perplexed. He, too, came to a halt in the grass.

"Well, it's really cloudy right now and it sort of looks like a storm is comin'…"

_Oh, yeah. I forgot Tails' fear of lightening. This isn't good._

"I think I just saw lightening over there!"

_Speak of the devil…_

"Tails, it's just electricity flashing in the sky miles and miles away from us. It won't hit you," Sonic said, feeling the rain come down harder on his quills.

Tails gave a sarcastic laugh. "And you won't drown in water if it's only six inches deep, either, but you still won't believe me on that! Can we go back to my house for the night? Please?"

"We don't have _time_!" Sonic tried to say, but the sound of cracking thunder overpowered his voice. Tails jumped and raced over to Sonic. "Tails… look… if we can find the Tornado, we can just fly it to Angel Island and go to the Hidden Palace from there. The storm has already passed there."

"Are you crazy? Piloting a plane in this kind of weather? Let's at least go back to Station Square until it passes!"

"I would, Tails, but where would we go? The place is falling apart. I think our only option is to try and find the Tornado, then hang out in there 'til it's over. You'll have to fly up a little ways and see if you can spot it!"

The fox groaned. "I can't fly! The wind is blowing too hard for me to spin my tails!"

"Then it looks like we're just going to have to wait it out, buddy!"

For a third time, lightening lit up the sky, thunder sounding almost concurrently. It was brighter, louder, and longer than before. Tails gripped onto Sonic's arm for dear life. The hedgehog knew Tails' fear wasn't just going to magically disappear, so he gave up trying to comfort him with words and just stood there for a few minutes.

"S—Sonic? Do you think it will pass soon?" Tails asked, his eyes pleading and his voice shaking with fear.

"I sure hope so."

Just then, a strange darkness seemed to pass over them, a darkness that came too suddenly for it to be a storm cloud. Sonic and Tails tilted their heads upward.

It took a few seconds to recognize it and both seemed to realize what it was at the same time, as they both looked at each other with wide eyes. Tails, though, was the first to say it.

"The Black Hawk?"

Sonic's grim expression confirmed Tails' words. "And that's not all. Look who's coming down from it."

The fox didn't even have to look to know who it was. "He found us."

"Tails," Zorro called from above, using his tails to descend towards them. "Long time no see."

For one brief moment, the young fox forgot his fear of storms. "I'll never forgive you for what you've done."

"I never wanted forgiveness," Zorro replied.

"Yes, you did," Tails said, remembering their short conversation in the jungle not too long ago. "You were so upset that you wanted me to kill you. Well… your wish is my command."

"You'll have to get through _them, _first," Zorro said.

"Who? More of your pathetic clones?" Sonic asked, folding his arms.

"You know, if I were you, I'd watch your words and take a look around you," Zorro warned. Naturally, Sonic and Tails did.

Robots were coming towards them from all directions. Thousands upon thousands of them.

"You're doing this now just to take advantage of Tails' fear!"

"That was the plan."

"How did you build them all?" Tails questioned.

"The same way youwould," Zorro responded, smirking coldly.

Sonic turned again towards the army of robots heading towards them. There was no getting out. Even if Tails _could _fly, there were robots with rockets on their backs everywhere, and even some with wings. They were completely surrounded, they were several miles from Station Square, the Tornado was nowhere near, and the storm was only getting more intense.

Despite their pure bad luck, Sonic grinned. "Fine," he said. "Have it your way."

Tails took a deep breath, trying his best to ignore the storm, then said as confidently as he could, "I got your back, Sonic!"

More robots fell from the giant fortress, landing mere yards in front of Sonic and Tails. They were red and gold with two huge legs. Its top appeared to be a square-shaped cannon.

"Lasers," Sonic muttered to Tails.

"I know."

The two of them made sure their backs were touching slightly so that nothing would be able to sneak up behind them. "After we attack a few, get back in this formation," Sonic told Tails. "It's the only way this is going to work."

"Right. Let's go! They're getting closer!"

Sonic rushed forward so fast that Tails felt his wind blow his ears and tails. As if that was his cue, he started towards the robots nearest to him and did his best to attack. He was a much better fighter when he could use his tails, but his punches were still effective. There were a lot of robots, but they were weaker than they looked.

At least, that's what Tails wanted to assume until four of them began to charge laser blasts at the same time.

He barely had time to think before the lasers fired. The fox sprung into the air and narrowly avoided contact. Before he fell back to the ground, another one fired and hit his shoe. He did two full spins in the air before landing on his rear end.

"Tails, you okay?" Sonic called over the storm.

"Uh-huh," Tails called back, getting to his feet as quickly as he could. Frustration was the driving force behind his next few punches. Without too much effort, he took out all four robots that had attacked him. _Well, that's about one hundredth of the battle._

The fighting went on continuously for the next ten minutes without problems. The two of them would damage a few mechs, then get back into their formation and circle around so that they could take a breather and determine their next moves, then attack again. After a while, though, both of them were starting to get tired.

Tails, having just destroyed several robots that were immediate threats, risked a glance over his shoulder. Sonic was spinning in wild circles around a dozen or so robots. The wind from the storm seemed to follow his path, forming a small but powerful tornado. As Tails watched, all the robots inside Sonic's spin dash got caught in the tornado and blew up.

"That was cool, Sonic!" Tails said, beaming.

"Hey, watch out!"

"What? AHHH!" An agonizing heat blasted against Tails' back and sent him crashing into Sonic. They tumbled over a few times before the mud stopped them. Tails had missed one of the laser blasting robots.

"Oww… s—sorry, Sonic," Tails groaned as he tried to stand up. Sonic, who hadn't been hit by the laser at all, was already standing.

"Are you okay?" Sonic grabbed Tails' arms and pulled him to his feet.

"I think so, but it burns. I can definitely still fight, though!"

"Hey, the wind's dying down. Can you take me up in the air really quick? There's less friction in the air than on the ground. I can take out a lot of them that way."

Tails spun his namesakes and grabbed Sonic by the wrists. "Just tell me when to let go!"

Tails ascended carefully to avoid going too close to any of the hovering robots. One of them tried to attack Tails from above, but got caught in his spinning namesakes and blew up.

"Hah! I love when that happens," Tails said.

"Careful, there's more coming! Just get a little higher!" Tails spun faster until they were about thirty feet up. "Okay! Push me downward as hard as you can!"

The fox released Sonic's wrists and quickly grabbed him by the shoulders again for a better grip, then shoved hard.

Sonic sped downward, curling into a tight ball. Then he felt himself blast through one, two, three, _four _robots in a row. He curved his body upward and back towards Tails. The fox caught him. "Again?"

"Again!"

Tails thrust the hedgehog with all his strength. Within seconds, another half dozen robots were destroyed.

Sonic stayed on the ground this time instead of spin dashing back up to Tails. More mechs were filling the sky and he didn't fancy battling them thirty feet up. "Can you handle them, Tails?" He called.

"I… I think so!"

"If not, then just come back down! For now, I can take on these guys. No problem!"

"All right!"

Sonic charged towards the huge cluster of robots in front of him. When he was within a few yards of them, he jumped up into the air, anticipating an attack. He was right. Two small grenades landed where he had just been and blew up on the spot. The radius of their explosion didn't go far, but if he had been caught in it, he knew it could have killed him.

From there, he curled up and dove downwards, slamming hard into the top of another robot. Then he bounced and destroyed two more the same way before landing.

He barely had time to turn around before a black and silver robot with six limbs landed in front of him. Before he knew it, its long, dark arms were striking at him almost as hard as Knuckles could punch. His crazed adrenaline rush was the motivation behind his quick movements as he hopped left, then right, then left again, then ducked – but he was hit hard in the face before he could get down low enough. He fell on his side, clutching his forehead in pain.

Seeing Sonic in the losing position, the surrounding red and gold robots rushed in to take advantage of the situation.

The hedgehog could hear them approaching. "Darn it! Get up!" He told himself angrily. But he was dizzy and his vision was doubled and he felt like a bomb had gone off right behind his eyes. For a moment, he thought about trying to roll away, but he was surrounded.

Before he could even try to push himself up, a human-like robot kicked him in the head. He cried out in pain and was met with another kick to the stomach.

"T—" He attempted to speak, but no words came out. It was as if all the oxygen had been knocked out of him. Panicking, the hedgehog began throwing blind punches and kicks from the ground to try and slow the robots down.

"Pathetic," Zorro said from above, an entertained look on his face. All the robots paused. Tails, who had just destroyed an aerial robot, turned to face him as well. He followed Zorro's stare to Sonic, who was lying somewhat helplessly on the ground.

"What are you looking at?" Zorro snapped at his distracted army. "I never said to stop!"

But Tails was already diving towards Sonic at top speed. "I'm coming!"

Sonic reached up weakly. Tails swooped down and picked Sonic up in one swift motion, then used his other arm to grab the hedgehog around his torso for a better grip.

"Thanks," Sonic breathed, holding onto Tails so he didn't fall.

"Are you okay!?"

"I think so. I just need to take a little breather. I can't see straight."

"You should have yelled! Why didn't you yell?" Tails demanded, more out of fear than any real anger.

"Got kicked—in the gut…" Sonic forced, still breathing heavily. "I'll be okay in a few minutes, though."

"Hey, the wind from the storm is dying down a bit, so it's not so hard to fly now! I should try and get us over all of 'em!"

"You—you think you can stay in the air for long enough? With… with the wind and robots and all?"

"I'll do what I can!" Tails said.

"Okay, but stay on guard," Sonic warned, becoming more alert again.

"Just hold on tight! If I can't get us out of this, I'm going to at least get us closer to the Tornado!"

"Now, do you really think I'd make it that easy for you?" said Zorro, who had apparently been delving into Tails' thoughts. "Backline robots, launch entire arsenal of—"

"_No!_" Tails hollered. Then he whirred around to face Zorro. "You take back that command! Take it back right now, or I'll… I'll…!"

"Scream at me some more?"

"Tails, stop it!" Sonic interrupted, cutting off Tails' childish threat. "He never finished the sentence. They won't launch their missiles yet, but they will soon! Let me go and fly for your life! I can handle this!"

"No, you can't! You're hurt!" Tails said, looking at Sonic anxiously.

"I've done this kind of thing before," Sonic began with a smirk, "and I can do it again, no sweat. Just get out of—"

"Stop telling me to run away every time we're in danger, Sonic! Don't you realize I'm never going to leave your side, no matter what you tell me to do?"

As if he'd been prepared to argue, Sonic opened his mouth again, but didn't speak. Tails had really meant that, hadn't he?

"Okay, if you say so," the hedgehog said with a smile. "Drop me. I'll cover the ground again."

"Watch your back," Tails told him.

"You, too. We'll keep an eye out for each other, okay?"

"Okay." Tails adjusted his grip and then prepared to launch Sonic at the sea of machines below them.

"I'm ready when you are, bro!" Sonic said.

Tails pushed against Sonic's shoulders and shoved him downward. He waited until Sonic curled into a spin dash before turning again to face Zorro.

"Why don't you fight, if you're so powerful?" Tails demanded.

"Feeling brave, are you?"

Zorro spun his tails faster and zoomed toward his counterpart. Surprised, Tails dropped out of the way.

"Looks like we're all talk and no action, aren't we?" Zorro asked, provoking Tails. The fox charged at him. At the last possible second, Zorro moved out of the way and kicked Tails in the back of the head just hard enough to inflict pain. The fox grunted.

Being an experienced flyer by nature, though, Tails was able to stay upright and in the air without problems.

"I can do that a lot harder," Zorro told him. "You might as well give up so I don't have to take measures like that."

"I'll give up when hell freezes over!" Tails dared to scream. "And that's just where you're gonna go, too!"

With that, Tails flew towards Zorro again. Instead of attempting to hit him, though, he grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to wrestle him out of the sky.

"What are you doing?"

"Putting you into your own battle!" Tails answered, hoping the robots would mistake Zorro for himself.

"Hmph!" Zorro broke out of Tails' grasp. "I don't think so." He grabbed the fox by a wrist and spun him around, then hurled him towards the robots. Tails slammed into the ground, splashing mud everywhere, and rolled over, following his momentum.

"Eww, this is gross!" Tails said, sitting up and attempting to wipe the mud off his fur. He had a revolted look on his face, but was inwardly glad that it hadn't been solid ground. That would have felt a lot worse.

By the time he stood up, Sonic had run over to him and Zorro had risen high above their reach.

"You just took on Zorro? That was crazy!"

"What's killin' all these robots going to do? It's just slowing us down. I wanted to try and…"

"Tails, he has three fully charged Super Emeralds! There's no way we'll be able to beat him yet."

Suddenly, Tails gasped. "Sonic, move!"

Wasting no time asking stupid questions, Sonic moved to his left. A missile landed in the ground next to him.

"That was close! Would've hurt, wouldn't it?"

"No kidding! Thanks for the warning," Sonic said. "Hey, it's releasing some purple gas. Is it smoke?"

Tails walked forward, then reached down.

"What are you doing? Don't touch it!"

"Don't worry, it's not explosive," Tails said, yanking it out of the ground. He turned it in his hands a few times. "The gas is some sort of poison."

"Then shouldn't we – hey, how'd you know that?"

Tails cocked his head. "Same way Zorro does."

"He got that idea from your head?"

"…No. I think… I think I got it from his!"

"I thought his Super Emeralds made it so that you couldn't see his thoughts…?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, I thought they did, too. Maybe our own Emeralds helped, even though they're not charged. They still have a little bit of energy, right?"

"Yeah. I guess that could be, but… _get down!_"

The two of them dropped down into the mud immediately, and a shower of bullets crossed over them. They seemed to be coming from all directions.

"Wow, we're wasting time!" Tails said loudly.

"Heh, maybe we ought to save this conversation for later." Sonic peered up and saw at least fifty robots in a circle around them. All of them had their left arms pointing at the two of them, like guns.

"_Locking on to targets. Fire round two."_

Sonic and Tails had just enough time to exchange nervous glances. The robots fired another round of bullets.

"AHH! SONIC!" Tails yelped.

"STAY… DOWN…!" Sonic forced through gritted teeth, stuffing his face into the mud. Dozens of bullets pierced the flesh of his quills. It ended fast, leaving the two of them bleeding in multiple places as they lay on the ground.

"S—Sonic?" Tails squeaked after a few seconds. It was obvious he was crying. "Are we going to b-bleed to death?"

Despite the pain, Sonic stifled a laugh. "No," he said, raising his head to get a better look at his friend. There were several wounds on his body, but if Tails could still talk and move, then they couldn't be that serious. His own bullet wounds didn't hurt nearly as badly as the time Zorro had shot him. "They're weak bullets… don't penetrate very far."

"You s-sure?"

"Positive. We'll be—"

"_Locking on to targets. Firing round three._"

"_Sonic!"_

Ignoring the pain, Sonic jumped up and threw himself towards Tails. He landed right next to him and covered the fox's head with his arms until the third round of bullets were fired.

"Get up!" Sonic commanded. He struggled to his feet and ran as fast as he could out of the mud, pulling Tails with him. The robots turned to face them and fired the next round of bullets. Sonic sped up, but every bullet was at his heels.

"Ouch! Sonic, another one just hit me in the leg!"

"Just keeping running!" The hedgehog released Tails' hand and tore on ahead, jumping into the air and spin dashing into a cluster of robots, blowing them up. He continued rolling after he hit the ground, slamming into robots like a heavy bowling ball would slam into pins. When the friction of the field finally began to slow him down, he uncurled and ran back towards Tails.

"And that's a strike!" He called triumphantly.

"That was awesome, Sonic!" The fox told him, evidently trying to ignore his limp.

"Your leg okay?" Sonic asked, giving Tails a tentative thumbs-up. He returned it.

"It'll be fine," Tails said. "What about you? You got hurt more than I did." Sonic couldn't help but notice the fox's ears droop slightly.

"The quills took some damage, but it's nothing I can't handle."

"The back of your head is bleeding a lot, though! You shouldn't have protected me."

Sonic shrugged. "Natural habit. Unless it's Knuckles."

Tails chuckled, but he was immediately silenced again when an unusually loud blast of thunder shook the field. His skin went pale under his fur. Up until now, he had done his best to ignore the storm, but that was really _loud_!

The rain, which had previously been a drizzle, got harder. Another bolt of lightening lit up the sky. For a brief moment, all the robots paused in fear.

"_Return to the Hawk! Return to the Hawk!_" Zorro cried.

"What?" A perplexed Tails asked, turning to Sonic.

"The rain!" Sonic said. "Electricity and rain don't go hand in hand. Zorro's withdrawing them all from the field so they don't get damaged!"

"But… that means he'll still have them next time we meet! And he'll just do the same thing again when we're not expecting it!"

"Hmph! Maybe that's _his _plan! But we'll have the Super Emeralds charged by then!"

"Oh, yeah! Good thinking!"

"Let's find the Tornado! When the storm clears, we can go straight to the Hidden Palace!"

**I think this takes the record for the longest fight scene EVER in any of my stories. I really, really hope you guys liked it. I proofread three times and changed anything that didn't look right, and even added a few paragraphs so it didn't seem rushed. A reviewer told me I should type 'less sophisticated' for fight scenes, and that makes sense, so I tried my best on that.**

**Also, this chapter was inspired by clip from an early trailer of Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. I couldn't find the actual trailer, but I found a video with the clip I was looking for. Go to:**

**www . youtube . com / watch?vVcOvCbxfKuY**

**without the spaces. The clip is from 2:04-2:15. See the big ol' field and the thousands of robots? And the bullets?**


	15. Chapter 15: The Hidden Palace

**Here's another update for ya! I almost forgot I planned to update today... it's eleven thirty right now... half an hour 'til Christmas!**

CHAPTER 15: The Hidden Palace

After the thunderstorm nearly passed, Sonic and Tails had taken the Tornado to Angel Island as quickly as possible. The sky was still shadowed by grey clouds and the wind was still blowing hard, but as long as no lightning was seen or thunder heard, the fox had had no problem flying the plane. As an experienced pilot, he was used to unsatisfactory weather.

"Looks like Knuckles is ready," Sonic told Tails. The red echidna was standing in front of the Master Emerald and looking up at them. Tails swerved the plane downward and landed smoothly on the island.

"Don't forget the Super Emeralds," he reminded Sonic.

"Now why would I do that?" The hedgehog asked, hopping out of the plane. He showed Tails the brown bag in his hand, then gently pulled the opening in the soft fabric apart to make sure all three were still in there. He smiled. "They won't be lifeless much longer."

"You two ready?" Knuckles said. They looked up, not even realizing at first that Knuckles had approached them.

"Yeah, but we only have three of the Super Emeralds," Sonic said.

Knuckles looked perplexed. "Why?"

"We don't know where the last one is, and we want these three to be ready just in case we don't find it," Tails chimed in.

The red echidna turned a look of slight disapproval on Sonic. "Maybe it should be found first. I really don't want to leave the Master Emerald here alone, so I think you two should split up. Someone could charge the Super Emeralds and the other could go find the last one."

Sonic consider the guardian's idea for a moment, then shrugged. "He does have a point, Tails. If no one finds the last Emerald, we can still beat Zorro without breaking a sweat. But if they find it, we're in trouble."

"But I don't know how to charge the Super Emeralds!" Tails pointed out. "And besides, I don't want to split up. Every time we do that, something bad happens."

"Whatever, it was just a suggestion," Knuckles said impatiently. "Just make up your minds. We can't sit around and plan anymore. Time is running out."

Sonic cast a glance at the apprehensive fox, then decided in his favor. "Okay… let's _all_ go to the Hidden Palace. Don't you need the Master Emerald anyway, Knux? To charge them?"

"Yeah, we do," he replied. "I guess I forgot. It's been such a long time since we've done this."

"Let's go, then," Sonic said.

"Wait!" Tails interrupted as Knuckles began lifting the Master Emerald. "The Tornado's only designed for two people! There's no way we can fit all three of us and the Master Emerald!"

"I'll ride a wing!" Sonic said.

"Me too! We'll put the Master Emerald in the passenger seat.

Tails scratched his chin. "Okay, but it's really windy, so be careful."

"No worries, Tails, we will!" Sonic said, winking. Knuckles proceeded to put the large Emerald in the Tornado. He and Sonic jumped on each wing of the Tornado and Tails hopped in the cockpit and turned on the engine.

"Hold on, we're shoving off in three… two… one!"

Sonic and Knuckles crouched down and gripped the plane. The Tornado blasted off into the air.

"I'm just going to keep flying south," Tails said after a few minutes. "Knuckles, tell me when to go back down!"

"I will!" Knuckles yelled, turning towards Tails. His eyes caught Sonic on the other wing. "Are you CRAZY, Sonic!? What are you doing?"

The blue hedgehog was no longer holding onto anything. Instead, he was in a balanced standing position with his arms out. His quills were blowing behind him, and his face shined with excitement. "Woohoooo! It's easy, Knuckles! I dare ya to try it!"

"That's suicide," Knuckles muttered under his breath. Due to his lingering rivalry with Sonic, though, he couldn't turn down the challenge. Carefully, he rose up, lifting his hands off the front of the wing.

"You know," the echidna called after he was certain enough he wouldn't fall, "If I slip off, I can glide. If you fall, you're going to land in your phobia!"

But Sonic, to his surprise, appeared unfazed. "I run fast all the time! I'm used to wind pushing against me like this."

"Suit yourself!"

"Hey, guys!" Tails called. "The Tornado is starting to drop! I think it's holding too much weight… it wasn't built for this!"

"Can it go a little farther?" Knuckles asked. "We're right above the forest!"

"Don't think so!" Tails replied. Beads of sweat formed on his head. "We're going to have to land it! Be ready to hold on!"

The plane descended gradually. When they neared the ground, they were at the edge of the forest. "Landing right here, Tails?" Sonic asked.

"Yup, so you might want to hold on!"

Sonic and Knuckles complied. The Tornado dipped below the trees, and Tails swerved left and right a few times to avoid them before landing roughly.

Sonic was the first to get out. "Come on!" He commanded. The other two followed behind him, Knuckles carrying the Master Emerald and Tails carrying the Super Emeralds.

"Sonic, wait!" The two said simultaneously. They exchanged amused glances briefly.

"Uh, what?" He said, stopping and heading back over to them.

Knuckles handed the Master Emerald to Sonic, who took it. "Let me lead. It's like a maze here, and one wrong turn could lead us somewhere we don't want to go. There are a lot of false teleportation rings."

"How do you know which one is the right one?" Sonic asked.

"It's the one that changes color to all the colors of the Emeralds," Tails replied. Knuckles looked astonished.

"And you knew that… how?"

"A dream I had," he said simply.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

With Knuckles' and Tails' knowledge and Sonic's speed, the trio managed to get through the maze in about forty minutes. Now, they were standing in front of the answer to all their problems: the gateway to the Hidden Palace.

"Can three people get through?"

"As far as I know," Knuckles said. "There shouldn't be a problem."

"This looks just like the one I used under water," Sonic pointed out. "And I'm pretty sure that one disappeared as soon as I touched it."

Tails, who was getting restless, grabbed their arms and ran forward. "If we're all touching, it should take all of us, right? Let's go!"

As soon as the fox touched the huge ring, whiteness enveloped all three of them. The ring continued to spin around and around until it finally disappeared, taking Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles with it.

It was the same sensation that Sonic had experienced before. He felt like his body was being pulled inward by some invisible force. The surrounding light was blinding; everyone's eyes were squeezed shut.

"Tails, don't lose your grip on us!" Sonic warned. Tails was the one who had touched the ring; he didn't want to know what would happen if he let go.

"I won't! Don't worry!" Tails assured. Right then, the brightness began to fade, and the world of the Hidden Palace seemed to form around them.

The grass was long and light and soft, just as Tails had remembered it when the Master Emerald first encountered him in a dream. The storm that had been plaguing the sky all afternoon didn't exist here; the sky was a deep blue, dotted by a few white stars. It reminded the fox of a clear morning before the sun completely rose.

Ahead of them was the Hidden Place itself: a beautiful, light grey building that looked like a tiny castle. The large, smooth bricks seemed to sparkle in the dim light of the sky. The door appeared to be made of sanded oak.

"It's been a long time since I've seen something this beautiful," Tails said, attracted to the scene around him.

"No kidding," Sonic agreed. "With Station Square being a pile of wreckage, robots constantly chasing after us, and so much fire and storms, it's not very often everything looks so tranquil anymore."

"Okay, you two, we're not here to sightsee. Just because we're not in our regular world right now doesn't mean time has stopped there. Shall we go in?"

Knuckles lead the way to the door and pulled it open. They stepped inside.

The interior of the Palace was rather plain; the bricks looked the same and there was only one room. A set of stairs led to a shrine much like the one on Angel Island, but without the pillars. Surrounding it were seven mysterious glowing spots, each one the color of a Super Emerald.

Knuckles walked up the stairs and placed the Master Emerald at the top. It hovered in midair.

"Here," the cobalt hedgehog said, snatching the brown bag from Tails.

"Sonic?" He asked, concerned.

"Let me try this first. I've used the Chaos Emeralds a lot more than you two. Even though these are Super Emeralds, it's still the same type of energy, right? I think I might have an easier time than you two will."

Without further explanation, Sonic removed one dull Super Emerald from the bag. The silver-colored spot seemed to glow just a bit brighter than the rest. Smiling, Sonic walked over to it. Once he was in front of it, the Emerald rose out of his hand towards the glowing spot.

"Sonic, be careful," Tails nearly whispered. "You remember what their power can do…"

Sonic nodded. He closed his eyes and lifted his hands. He knew from last time that he didn't have to say or do anything: all he had to do was focus.

_Give them the power they need, _he thought inwardly. _Come on, Master Emerald. We need this to defeat Zorro and return things to normal. The world is falling into chaos. People have been killed. Help me put an end to this. Help me put an end to this._

A high-pitched sound filled the room and the Super Emerald began to glow. Tails and Knuckles covered their ears, but Sonic was still. He closed his eyes tighter and concentrated on what had to be done to save the world. The glow got increasingly brighter, and some force began to emit from it, blowing Sonic's quills backward.

_Charge the Super Emerald… charge the Super Emerald…_

The pressure built up. Sonic could almost feel the Super Emerald's power. It felt as if his own energy was being taken out of him to make this happen. It wasn't comfortable. Sonic began to speak out loud to distract himself from the pain.

Still lingering by the entrance, Tails gasped. "It's hurting him!" He ran towards Sonic, who was commanding the Master Emerald to release some of its power through gritted teeth. He stopped short, though, and not only because of the brightness. _Should I do anything? I don't want to mess things up, but he looks like he's having a hard time!_

It was true; Sonic seemed to have lost all awareness that anything existed beyond him and the Super Emerald in front of him. "Release your energy into this Emerald!" He shouted frantically. Now there was a mysterious line of light connecting the Super Emerald to the Master Emerald. "Almost there… almost there!"

"Sonic?" Tails said, barely above a whisper. The word got lost in the high-pitched sound that seemed to be coming from the Master Emerald. "Sonic," he repeated, stepping forward and placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't hurt yourself. Are you okay?"

Sonic opened one eye ever so slightly. Tails saw that it was shining with tears.

"_Stop!_" he whispered. But Sonic would not.

"Tails!" Knuckles called. "I'm going to try and charge these two. Since I'm always in the presence of the Master Emerald, I should be able to!"

Tails just nodded, not leaving Sonic's side.

Then, suddenly, he wondered to himself if he could help. He took his hand off Sonic's shoulder and faced the Super Emerald as well. Since he had been four last time they were at the Hidden Palace, Tails had never actually charged one before, but maybe he could now.

Taking a deep breath, the fox began whispering the riddle that he had heard from the Master Emerald in his dream. It didn't take long for him to understand Sonic's pain.

Only another minute later, the glow began to fade away. Tails opened his eyes and backed off; Sonic remained where he stood, just to make sure the process really was finished. When the fully charged Super Emerald fell to the ground, Sonic's knees buckled and he collapsed.

"Sonic!" Tails yelped, catching him and then dropping to one knee. He felt cold sweat cover his hands.

"Tails… wow… I…" Sonic said through heavy breaths.

"Sonic, are you okay? Don't pass out!"

The hedgehog said nothing, but continued breathing heavily. He gave Tails a weak thumbs-up sign to answer his question.

"You did it."

"I… hope I…. ne—never… have to do that… again…"

Tails had never seen Sonic so overwrought. It worried him greatly. "C'n you stand?"

"N—not… yet," Sonic said weakly. "Knuck… okay?"

Tails looked across the room, where two more glowing Super Emeralds were at rest on the ground. Knuckles was on his knees next to them, groaning and holding his head.

"I think so," Tails said. "All the Emeralds are charged now. We should hang out here while we're safe, though, don't you think?"

"Just 'til… Knux and I… can—"

"Yeah, I know," Tails told him, silencing him. He let Sonic's head slide onto the floor gently. Convinced enough that Sonic wasn't seriously hurt, he picked up the brown bag and collected the silver, blue, and green Super Emeralds.

"Tails—" Knuckles said when the fox was near.

"Yeah?"

"Okay?"

"Uh-huh, are you? How'd you charge them both so fast?" The fox questioned.

"Wasn't easy. You helped… Sonic… out a little…"

"Yeah, but the Emerald got charged quick after I helped. I'm just a little dizzy but I'm fine."

"Hey, what's that?"

The fox followed Knuckles' stare. A ray of green light was ascending out of the Master Emerald. They squinted. Words began to form in it. "Go down to go up," Tails spoke. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think," Sonic said, managing to push himself to a sitting position, "That's directions to… the last Emerald."

**As usual, please review, comment, criticize, etc.**

**I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! The next update will hopefully be before the New Year, but if not, Happy New Year's as well!**


	16. Chapter 16: Up, Down, All Around

CHAPTER 16: Go Down to Go Up… to Go Down

"Go down to go up," Tails reiterated. "So… do we go back to our world and then figure this out? Or is this something we have to do while we're here?"

"That's a good question," Knuckles said. "I'm guessing it's somewhere in the Palace."

"But there's only one room!" Tails said. "I don't see anything in here."

"I do," Sonic said, raising a slightly trembling hand. Tails looked where his finger was pointing.

"What?"

"There's a brick in the wall that looks… just a little darker than the rest. Think it means anything?"

"I think Sonic might be right, Tails," Knuckles said. "There's an arrow in the Master Emerald now. It looks like it's pointing right there."

Tails walked towards the wall in question, knowing that neither Sonic nor Knuckles had much strength yet. He ran his fingers over the brick. It was protruding out of the wall about an inch. "I think I can pull it out," he said. The fox grabbed the edges of it and tugged. It slid out of the wall easily and Tails let it drop to the floor. "A button?" He said, peering inside the hole. "There's a little button in the back. Should I press it?"

"Go for it. What have we got to lose?"

"Besides three Super Emeralds," Knuckles muttered, not quite under his breath.

Tails reached into the square hole and pushed it. He watched it in silence for a few seconds as nothing happened, then all the sudden, the entire Palace began to rumble violently. "Uh-oh!" He said. "What's going on?"

"We should get out of here!" Knuckles called. "What if it collapses, or something?" He forced himself to stand, then made a mad dash for the door. Sonic looked from the door to the wall behind Tails, torn between escaping potential danger and staying here to possibly discover what this clue meant.

But before he could reach a decision, the vibrations stopped. They had only lasted a few seconds.

For the second time that minute, an awkward silence filled the room. Then Sonic eventually asked the question everyone was thinking: "What was _that _all about?"

Tails looked around, trying to figure out what the button did.

"Hey, there's a hole in the floor behind you, Sonic," he said. "It looks like some of the floor tiles were shaken loose."

Knuckles, who was on his feet by now (albeit somewhat unsteadily), walked over to the hole in question. All three of them peered down into it. It was utterly dark; nothing could be seen and there was no telling how far it went.

"I guess that's down," Sonic said, getting to his feet. "I think this is what that hint is telling us to do."

"Is it safe to go down there?"

"I guess we'll find out!" Sonic said, and jumped into the hole. Knuckles followed.

"You guys!" Tails called after them. He took a deep breath, then plunged into the hole, holding the Super Emeralds close to his chest.

For a few fearful moments, he fell straight down in the darkness. Then he was sliding, as if the hole had curved and made a slight angle. Ahead of him, he heard Sonic's excited cries and Knuckles' screams. Deciding that this was fun rather than scary, he grinned and raised his arms.

"All riiight! This is awesome!"

He felt the path curve upward, then downward, then upward again, and so on… like a series of hills on a rollercoaster. Then it turned to the left, and he saw light; the ride was over as quickly as it started. Before he had time to prepare, he shot out of the tunnel like a rocket, slamming right into Knuckles and knocking him down. The fox rolled over him and skidded painfully on the ground before coming to a stop several yards later.

"Ouch… sorry, Knux… are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said. "Guess I should've moved out of your way."

The two of them stood, dusting themselves off. Sonic, who had come out of the tunnel first, was already standing.

They were in a large room with brown and grey rock walls. It looked like a man-made cave. Icicles hung from the top and the rocky floor beneath them was rough and bumpy. It was a boring, gloomy sight.

"Guys," Sonic began. "There's another ring over there."

"It looks like we'll have to walk across some ice, first," Knuckles pointed out. There was a frozen body of water separating them from the ring. It wasn't large, but it was more than enough to unnerve Sonic.

"Walk across that? What if it breaks?"

"Sonic, it looks like it's been frozen for some time now. We're probably a couple hundred feet below the ground, so it's not like it's ever really warm down here," Tails told him. He walked onto the ice, then jumped up and down several times as if to prove his point.

"C'mon, Sonic," Knuckles said, grabbing Sonic's arm and practically dragging him onto the ice. "You're not scared, are ya?"

"I just don't like getting wet," Sonic insisted. "It's annoying."

"Sure you don't. Now come on." Knuckles yanked Sonic forward (and Sonic went reluctantly), following Tails. They were moving slowly to avoid slipping.

After a few minutes, Knuckles turned an irritated look on the hedgehog still in his grasp. "You know, tiptoeing and nearly shrieking with every step isn't going to help."

"It's not my fault no one taught me how to swim!"

"And so you can't learn now?" Knuckles retorted. "I taught myself."

"Sonic, it's not even breaking," Tails said.

"Yet," the hedgehog muttered under his breath. Suddenly, his panic getting the best of him he broke free of Knuckles' hold and dashed forward.

It was instantly obvious that the ice couldn't withstand the force of his fast feet.

"Sonic, stop! You're cracking the ice!" Knuckles shouted. Sonic turned around, scrambled back and grabbed both of them, then continued forward, ignoring the splitting ice beneath his feet. He didn't stop running until they were on solid land. When they were, he breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Nice one, Sonic!" Knuckles said angrily. "We could have fallen in, you know!"

"But we didn't, did we? At least we got across quicker."

"Don't ever do something like that again. You know, it's a miracle you're still alive with all the reckless things you do!"

"I wonder where this ring will take us…?" Tails, who had been ignoring their argument, asked.

"Only one way to find out," Sonic said, still holding onto Tails and Knuckles. Together, the three of them walked into the ring.

They reappeared seconds later in a huge black and silver room. There was a large window in the back, along with a rolling chair and a control panel that ran from one side of the room to the other. There was a Zorro clone in the chair, but it didn't seem to notice them, as all three of them kept quiet.

Something about the place seemed vaguely familiar. All three of them got a sense of déjà vu before realization struck.

"The Black Hawk!" They whispered at once. Then Tails gasped slightly and Sonic and Knuckles covered their mouths. Luckily for them, the robot at the back of the room was still occupied in its own business.

"It looks like we're in the very back of it," Tails said.

"So this is the _up _part of the hint," Knuckles said sourly, looking out the window and seeing nothing but clouds floating away from him.

"Sonic, what if the real Zorro's on here?" Tails asked worriedly.

"Relax. We have three charged Super Emeralds, remember? Besides, I don't think he is. He's probably looking for the last Emerald like we are."

"Where's the last one, anyway? Isn't that what the Master Emerald was trying to tell us?"

Sonic opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, the Zorro duplicate turned in his chair to face them. It was only then that they noticed the com-link on his wrist.

"He'll tell Eggman and Zorro where we are!"

"Not if I can help it," Sonic said. "Leave him to me. You two go search this fortress! There must be a reason we were sent here."

"Tails, you go left and I'll go right," Knuckles said. He ran through the door. The fox hesitated briefly.

"Tails," Sonic said, backing away from the Zorro clone. "Take care of yourself, okay? I'm sure this isn't the only robot on this ship."

"I will! You too!" The fox turned on his heels and headed through the left door.

_I wonder if I can find out where this thing is going? There's no doubt Eggman and Zorro are planning something. I have to find out what it is. I wish the Master Emerald could help here._

Then, it hit him. The Master Emerald _and _the Tornado were still in the forest back on Angel Island! That wasn't good! The fox wondered briefly if he should go tell Knuckles.

_He probably already realized it, _he told himself. He kept going forward down the unadorned, metallic corridor, quickening his pace.

All that he could see ahead of him was the hallway he was racing down. There were no rooms to go in. If something were to come and attack him, he'd have nowhere to hide.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded. Tails stopped in his tracks. _No! What happened? _He backed against a wall and looked around, half expecting to be attacked at any given second. Red warning lights on the ceiling were flashing on and off. He didn't dare move a muscle.

"Intruder detected in main control room! Dispatch all robots to main control room!" The voice, Tails guessed, must have belonged to one of the lead robots on the ship. "Intruder detected! All robots to main control room! Destroy anything in your way!"

"Sonic!" Tails called. Sonic was the only one still in the room they had appeared in! He had to get out of there!

_Oh, no… should I go back or keep going this way?_

As if to answer his question, the brown bag containing the three Super Emeralds began to glow and heat up. Tails immediately opened the bag. Inside, all three Emeralds were shining bright, the way the Chaos Emeralds would when they detected something.

The last Super Emerald _was_ on this ship.

Tails turned his head in the direction he had came from, then in the other direction, torn between helping Sonic and finding the last Emerald. He knew he had made a promise to himself to do everything in his power to save Sonic in a situation like this. Just when he made his decision, though, he noticed the blue blur himself racing down the path towards him. He came to a sudden halt.

"Tails? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Sonic!" Tails answered, letting Sonic know he wasn't one of the fake Zorros. "Come on! The last Super Emerald is at the end of this hallway somewhere!"

"All right!" Sonic said. He dashed on ahead. Tails stayed at his heels.

"Did you hear the alarm?"

"How could I have not heard it? That's why I ran! I still haven't seen any robots, though."

"What if they're in Knuckles' hallway? You think he's okay?" Tails asked.

"I'm sure Knuckles can take care of himself. They're just clones, anyway, they're not that powerful."

"Did you get rid of the one with the com-link?"

"Yeah, I did. Not before he called all those robots, though. I thought he could communicate with Eggman, too, but he didn't." Sonic told him. "Uh-oh! Robots up ahead! Let's go above them!"

"Right!" Tails grabbed Sonic's hand as they ran and spun his tails. They rose up into the air, flying over several confused robots. "You think the clones can fly?"

"Probably, but as long as we get on the other side of these ones, I can outrun them!"

"Hey, we're almost at the end!"

"Good! Go ahead and land, but don't let go! I'm going to go really fast!"

"Okay!" Tails stopped spinning. He and Sonic dropped to the ground. Sonic reinforced his grip on Tails' hand and bolted forward.

"Sonic, I think I see a split in the path up ahead! Turn instead of going straight, 'cause we're starting to lose the Super Emerald's signal!"

Sonic complied, making a hard right turn. Then he stopped, backing against a wall and motioning for Tails to do the same. Seconds later, the group of robots rushed past them, not even realizing that they had turned.

"I think we lost 'em," Sonic said.

"Sonic, you're right, I don't think Zorro is on here, either! I bet he and Eggman are having their robots fly the Super Emerald to them! Otherwise, they'd have known we were on here by now with all the commotion!"

"That's not good! If only we could find out—"

Tails raised a hand to stop Sonic. "I have a plan!"

Sonic raised his eyebrows, giving his full attention to his friend.

"You take the Super Emeralds and follow their signal to the last one! I'm going to go to the very front of this thing and see if I can't change its direction."

That wasn't a bad idea at all. Sonic nodded. "Okay, hurry up. If we're headed where I think we might be headed, we don't have much time at all."

Before Tails could ask the most obvious question, Sonic was off. Shrugging, he turned around and ran back into the main hallway, continuing down the path for a few more minutes.

Alarms still rang throughout the fortress and lights still flashed, but the robots seemed to have disappeared for the time being. Tails began to notice and wondered why. Did they know Sonic was after the Super Emerald and were trying to protect it? Had they found Knuckles? Several more questions floated around in Tails' mind, but he knew he couldn't find answers now. Sonic had said they didn't have much time, so he had to steer this thing off course before it reached Zorro.

Eventually, he made it to the end of the unbelievably long hallway. The front window of the fortress was straight ahead of him.

_This is where I was when I almost killed Sonic so long ago, _the fox thought as the scene before him called back nasty memories. _With that powerful laser._

He was about to proceed forward, but stopped. Several robots were lined up against the wall closest to him. _They're not in use… because Sonic and I got away. They think there's no threat on the ship anymore. Maybe if I move slow, their censors won't detect me._

With caution, the fox took a few steps forward, then stopped, then took a few more. Nothing happened. The minions made no sign that they had seen Tails.

He made his way to the front of the Black Hawk. He saw the two handles that controlled the ship's direction. Figuring going one way was just as good as going the other way, he turned the one on the right in a ninety-degree angle. Naturally, the fortress began to turn right.

"Whoa--!" Tails grabbed onto the counter as the ship tilted, struggling not to lose his balance. The inactive robots slid across the floor for a few seconds, then all burst into life at once, detecting their own movement. "I guess I should have turned it a little slower," the fox said to himself. Once the ship was level again, he turned to face the robots coming towards him. There were at least twenty, and he knew there was strength in numbers. His first thought was, _I'd better get out of here!_ but then realization dawned: if he didn't take them out, the robots could easily steer the fortress back on course.

Fighting was his only option. He raised his fists up and spread his legs slightly, ready to dodge an attack. _Five Zorros… eight humanoids with lasers… two six-limbed ones with really long arms… and the rest are the ones we saw in the field that shoot bullets! How am I supposed to fight all of them!?_

"Sonic!" Tails cried, backing away fearfully. He knew it was useless; his blue friend was halfway across the fortress. Maybe he could just stall them until the Super Emerald was found… after all, they did seem to be waiting for him to make the first move. But they probably wouldn't wait much longer.

_Instead of always depending on Sonic, maybe I should try and handle this myself._

If Sonic could defeat simple robots like this without breaking a sweat, then he certainly could too, right? The kit smiled, making some of Sonic's confidence his own.

Wasting no more time, the fox leaped forward, faking an attack. Two of the robots nearest to him – both of them with lasers – aimed at Tails, but he jumped into the air just as they shot. He landed in front of a cluster of Zorro clones and waited. As anticipated, the lasers fired again, and he jumped again. Behind him, he heard a few Zorro clones blow up as the lasers went underneath him. The remaining Zorro clones, noticing this, rushed past Tails and attacked the laser-armed robots. Apparently their programming didn't allow them to realize that the lasers had hit them on accident.

Tails nearly chuckled at the sight, but remembered he had other robots to deal with. He ran towards the androids, most of which had attached guns, and sprung into the air. Just as they started shooting, the fox faced his rear towards them and spun his tails rapidly, deflecting every bullet. A few of them bounced back towards the robots, damaging them.

When the sharp strikes against his tails stopped, the fox dropped to the ground, taking the few seconds he had to kill as many robots as possible. He managed to put three out of commission with a few well-aimed kicks before the remaining ones fired another spray of bullets. Tails jumped into the air as fast as he could, but had already gotten shot several times before his feet came off the ground. Tears blurred his vision. The pain distracted him, and he forgot to spin his tails, falling to the floor.

Instincts taking over, the fox put his hands over his head and wrapped his namesakes around him, expecting to get shot at again any second. But the shower of bullets never came.

Finally daring to open his eyes, the fox saw that the robots' attention had been directed to something else. Knuckles was standing in the doorway, looking incredibly dangerous. "Tails, get out of here! I can take them! Sonic's looking for you."

"Where is he?" Tails asked, relaxing the slightest bit.

"Not far from where you left him. He found the Super Emerald, by the way. Looks like Eggman already had it charged, too."

Tails was on his feet in a second. "He did? Are you sure?"

"Positive! I ran into him once on the way down here and he had it in his hands. I'd suggest you hurry, though. He was being chased by quite a few of these guys," Knuckles said, gesturing to the armed androids who were now starting towards him.

"Okay, thanks Knuckles!" Tails said. He left out the door he had come in from, spinning his tails as fast as his body would allow.

Almost as soon as he turned down the path Sonic had followed, Tails saw the cerulean hedgehog. He was running straight towards him, and a crowd of robots were at his heels. "Tails!" He shouted, and suddenly a brown bag was soaring towards him.

The fox caught it, turned, and ran back the way he'd came. _Finally… we have the other four Super Emeralds! _He thought triumphantly. The androids, though, weren't ready to give Tails any time to celebrate. The fox sped up, hearing bullets hitting the metal floor beneath him.

"Did you find the pilot room?" Sonic asked, catching up to his friend.

"Yeah," Tails panted. "Turned it off its course."

"Now we just have to get out of here and find Zorro and Eggman. That shouldn't be a problem, though!"

"Why? Got something in mind?"

"No!" Sonic answered, his confidence unwavering. "But I'm good at thinking on my feet."

Tails suddenly yelped as a bullet made painful contact with his ankle. He bit his lip, suppressing an urge to cry.

"Here," Sonic said, taking the brown bag again and running on ahead. While his hands were free, Tails inflicted damage on a few robots. Minutes later, Sonic tossed the bag back to him and finished the job Tails had started, then took the bag back for a second time.

Tails caught onto Sonic's tactic quickly: the androids were the opposing team and the Super Emerald bag was the football. The two of them worked as a team to slowly chip away at the robots, one protecting the Emeralds while the other 'tackled'.

Soon enough, the androids were defeated and the two of them were in the pilot room again. Much to Tails' relief, Knuckles had finished off all the robots in there, as well. But as they approached, it was unmistakable that the echidna looked unsure of something.

"What's wrong?" Tails asked dreadfully.

"I accidentally slammed a robot into the control panel. It knocked the two levers right off. And not only that. I think this fortress has taken engine damage somehow, because we're going down."

Sonic and Tails exchanged glances, terrible understanding commencing. If they couldn't control the ship, and the ship was descending…


	17. Chapter 17: The Lose Lose Situation

**Sorry I'm late. I had the chapter ready on the eleventh (when I planned to put it up) but FFN didn't want to work. I kept getting that 'page cannot be displayed' error message. And with exams coming up, I haven't had time to get online much sense then.**

CHAPTER 17: The Lose-Lose Situation

"What about the Super Emeralds?" Tails asked frantically. "We could use them to power up the ship so it doesn't fall!"

Sonic shook his head. "Just one loophole. If we do that, it'll use up their energy, and we'd have to go back to the Hidden Palace."

"But if we don't, we're going to crash! We can't stop Zorro if we crash and die!" Tails protested.

"We can't stop him without the Super Emeralds, either. There has to be more than one way to get out of this!" Sonic said, more to himself than the other two. He refused to believe they would fail.

"What if there's not?"

"If there's absolutely no way, then we'll use 'em, but I don't want to give up yet! I'm sure we can find a way out!"

"We don't even know how we got in, though!" Tails said.

"Well, if Eggman can fit through whatever exit is on this thing, then I'm sure it's not too small for us to find," Knuckles told him sarcastically. Sonic gave him a disapproving look that clearly said, "I'm the one who was supposed to say that," then smiled suddenly.

"I think I know! Follow me, and keep up!" Without waiting for a response, the hedgehog darted away. For a short moment, Tails and Knuckles just stared at his afterimage, then tore off after him.

Sonic led them through the main corridor (a run Tails was starting to find tedious), then turned and raced through several smaller hallways, waiting for his two slower friends at every few turns. The lights seemed to get dimmer and dimmer as they went.

"It happened before, don't worry," Sonic said after a while, noticing Tails' worried expression and slowing down to his pace. "I had to pass through all this on the way to the Super Emerald. There's nothing harmful in this area."

Finally, it was nearly pitch black. Tails and Knuckles had to follow the sound of Sonic's padding feet. The hedgehog was getting slower and slower, even stopping every once in a while. By the sound of things, he seemed to be looking for something, but what it was was unbeknownst to either of them. What would he be trying to find in the dark?

"Sonic, why's it dark back here?" Tails asked apprehensively.

"I think Eggman figured it'd stop us if we did happen to get on here. The Super Emerald was about another five minutes away from here. I think it was at the very center of the ship."

"So what's the point of this, again?" Knuckles asked. The impatient tapping of a foot could be heard.

There was a loud clanging of metal on the ground near them. Then two surprised gasps. One vulgar word. Said chunk of metal being kicked across the floor.

"Is there a robot?" Tails asked quietly.

"No, it was just me," Sonic said irritably. "Just removed a vent cover from the wall and dropped it on my foot. There's a circular pipe here where it was, big enough for Eggman's hover thing to get through."

"How'd you find it?" Knuckles asked. "You have night vision or something?"

Sonic chuckled, and Tails and Knuckles could hear embarrassment in his voice. "After I got the Emerald, I was on my way back and… I was going a bit too fast. I sort of ran into this wall and knocked the cover off, but I put it back on. It just hit me back in the pilot room that this could have been something to get us out of here."

"Speaking of getting out of here, we'd better do it! We're getting closer and closer to ground every second!"

Sonic nodded, forgetting no one could see it, and climbed into the pipe. Tails and Knuckles followed close behind. There was enough room for them to walk side by side, but Knuckles and Sonic had to crouch a little bit.

They continued at a steady pace for a few minutes, feeling the sides of the pipe with their hands in order to not be caught off guard by turns. All went smoothly and silently until…

"What was that!?" Tails shrieked suddenly, making the other two jump.

"What?"

"I just heard a really loud noise!"

Sonic was about to tell him that it was just his mind playing tricks on him, but remembered how keen the fox's sense of hearing was. "What was it?"

"It sounded like an explosion!"

"COME ON!" Knuckles bellowed. "Let's move it!"

Sonic reached backwards, grabbing whatever part of Tails and Knuckles he could find (luckily, his hands found their arms before anything else) and bolted forward at an impressive velocity—even for the fastest thing alive.

They sped through the blackness of the pipe at such frantic speeds that Sonic's feet would have appeared as nothing but blurs. There were no turns at all, and there was no light to be seen at the end of the tunnel.

"How far does this—Uh-oh!"

"What?" Knuckles asked dreadfully.

"I think… I think something just fell out from under my quills!"

"Please don't tell me it was…"

"Those were the only things in my quills," the hedgehog said with a nervous laugh.

"Well, STOP, then!" Knuckles screeched to a halt, yanking his arm away from Sonic's grip as he started to run backwards. He dropped to his knees and felt the bottom of the pipe. Sonic and Tails followed suit. "Damn it, I can't find them!"

"Me neither!"

Tails' ears perked up suddenly. "Guys, another 'splosion!" He said anxiously. "We have to get _out _of here! We have to find another way to stop Zorro!"

"No! I'm not giving up!" Sonic told them stubbornly.

"Not even for us? You're the only one who's fast enough to get us out of here!"

The hedgehog didn't respond. There were several more explosions, and this time, all three of them could hear the devastating sound. The fortress was blowing up with them still inside.

_There's no good way out of this! If we leave the Super Emeralds here, they'll scatter eventually and we'll never find them in time to beat Zorro! He'll just cause more pain and destruction! If it was just me here, I'd take the chance. But… Tails and Knuckles. I can't risk their lives. I won't!_

"Grab my hands, NOW!"

Tails and Knuckles did. Sonic didn't even allow himself to think about changing his mind; it was now or never! He was about to leave behind their only hope of defeating Zorro.

But it was worth it.

The three of them blasted forward, creating a loud sonic boom to which all the explosions paled in comparison.

"I can't believe it!" The hedgehog muttered to himself, venting off some of the frustration. "I can't _believe_ our luck is this bad!"

His stomach suddenly jumped as the pipe curved upward, making nearly a ninety-degree angle with the ground. "I see light!" He heard Tails say.

"Sonic, hurry up! You don't want to know what's behind us!" Knuckles warned.

Sonic risked looking over his shoulder. Something not too far from where the pipe started had blown up (probably triggered by the other explosions). There was a raging puff of hot smoke and fire tearing up the tunnel behind them.

"Déjà vu," Sonic muttered, grinning just a little as he remembered their first meeting with Zorro. He had been in this situation before. And if he could outrun fire once, he could do it again.

Except last time, he hadn't been going straight uphill, there had been light, and he didn't have Knuckles with him. But that was besides the point.

He looked ahead again. The light at the end of the tunnel no longer appeared as a dot-sized speck. Now, it was almost the size of the tunnel itself. Sonic tightened his grip on Tails and Knuckles. "Here we go! Tails, you know what to do, right?"

"Right!"

The three of them squeezed their eyes shut tight, the light blinding them as they rocketed out of the dark fortress and into the sky. Tails twisted his namesakes together as they soared, then let them untwist in the opposite direction. They spun round and round like a propeller, bringing their ascension to a gradual stop but not allowing them to fall back down.

Below them, just as Tails had turned around, the Black Hawk had finally reached its limit and blown up. There was a massive 'bang' as the exterior shattered before their eyes. Debris went flying everywhere, most of it on fire.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles had disappointed looks on their faces.

"Well, looks like the fight is over, guys," Knuckles said quietly, shaking his head. "Tails, you can let go. I need to head back to Angel Island. The Master Emerald is all we have left, now." Tails, mesmerized by the explosion, obeyed absentmindedly, and the echidna was gone.

"We lost."

Sonic just nodded, staring down at the remaining debris as it fell into the water. They _had _lost. There was no way they could fight Zorro and come out alive.

Then, his heart jumped.

Amongst the debris was a little brown bag, being pulled by gravity into the water.

"Tails! Let go, _let go_!"

"What? No way! Are you—"

"You heard me! I see it! I see--"Sonic said frantically, struggling to yank his hand from Tails'.

"What are you doing? You're going to fall in the water, Sonic! STOP it!"

"_I have to get the Super Emeralds!_" Sonic all but shouted, ignoring his friend's pleas. To Tails' surprise and utter shock, the hedgehog broke into a spin dash. He let go by impulse, not wanting to get caught in the spinning quills.

By the time the kitsune realized what had just happened, Sonic was far beyond his reach, plummeting towards the one obstacle he couldn't overcome: water.

"_SONIC!!!_"

Five hundred feet lower, the hedgehog was spinning closer and closer to the four miracle gems, and, more dangerously, closer to the water. Diving after the Emeralds had seemed like such a great idea, but he had no course of action once he _caught _them. And he knew that if he drowned, the Super Emeralds were going down with him.

He spun faster than he ever had in his life. The Emeralds weren't that far – he could easily reach them – but the water was almost just as close. He couldn't tell where everything was, of course, because he was spinning so fast, so he would have to guess when the bag was close enough to reach.

After a few more seconds, he uncurled. The brown bag was mere feet in front of him. He held out one hand, begging inwardly for it to come closer.

_Had Tails let go of me five seconds earlier, I probably could have grabbed it by now and still had enough momentum to curve and spin dash along the water. Of course, that would have been too easy._

"Come on…" He said, willing himself downward. Finally, after seconds that seemed like minutes, his fingers slipped between the laces. Just as a triumphant smile lit up his face, he felt the water surround him.

His first instinct was panic, but in order to have any hope of getting out of this, he knew he had to hold his breath. As he sank, he turned his body so that he could look up. He couldn't tell how far under the surface he was.

_Great. What am I supposed to do? Will Tails come under? What if he can't find me?_

Then, another thought occurred to him. Although he had never learned how to swim, he had seen other people do it before. Maybe he could figure it out.

Not hesitating, Sonic kicked his legs back and forth. He gripped onto the bag tighter, then used his free hand to 'grab' the water and push it below him. He was surprised to feel himself move upward.

He kept kicking and moving his arm, hoping against hope that he was closer to precious oxygen than it looked like he was. His lungs were screaming for air, and not allowing himself to inhale went against every law of science Tails had told him about, but he couldn't give up now. _I have to be almost there_, he thought. The hedgehog was moving upward at a steady pace, having naturally quick legs as it was.

The sensation of pressure on his insides was increasing with every second. He hadn't gotten a chance to take a big enough breath. He kicked even faster, using every ounce of energy he could muster. It wasn't working. He was getting dizzy and his vision was blurred. Finally, he had no choice but to grant his body's wishes, sucking in a mouthful of water. He felt relief for about a second, then panic as his lungs filled with the salty liquid, then… nothing. He began to close his eyes just as he floated above the surface. _Tails will see me now. I made it. He'll save me._

And as anticipated, he felt a pair of gloved hands grab him under the arms just before he gave in to unconsciousness.

"Sonic? Sonic, wake up!" Tails said a few minutes later, setting the hedgehog on the sand and shaking his shoulders. "Come on, wake up! Wake _up_!" The fox put his hands on Sonic's stomach and pushed. Immediately, he coughed.

Tails pushed Sonic on his side and held him there, knowing he could choke on his own regurgitation otherwise. He coughed several more times, then vomited into the sand, soaking it with water and chunks of whatever had previously been in his stomach (which probably wasn't much).

"Ergh!" Revolted, Tails scrambled backward and shielded his eyes from the sight. _Well, at least I know he's alive, now._

When the kit could hear Sonic breathing steadily again, he cautiously opened his eyes and began to inch forward. "Sonic?"

"I'm fine," he coughed out. "Thanks for gettin' me out of there."

"I wasn't just going to let you drown. Did you… did you get them?"

"Yeah. In my quills," Sonic told him.

"Can you get up?"

"Yeah, just needed a breather," Sonic said, rolling over on his front and carefully getting to his feet. "Come on. We don't have time to hang around."

Tails was surprised by Sonic's sudden recovery, but followed him all the same. "Where are we going?"

"The Dome Base," he answered nonchalantly.

"You think they're there?"

"Yeah. The ship was headed that way before. I don't know where else they'd be, unless…"

"Unless Eggman built another base somewhere else?" Tails volunteered.

Sonic nodded, then muttered, "Though I guess that wouldn't be too surprising."

"But why would they need to build a new one? The Dome Base was… good!" The fox said for lack of better word. "It was big! And don't you remember how many traps there were?"

"That's what I'm saying. That's the type of place Zorro and Eggman would hang out in. I bet they're waiting for us."

"But we have something they don't!" Tails said confidently.

"That's right. So let's give them what they're looking for."

Sonic darted forward towards the place where he _knew _they would end Zorro. Tails followed close behind, the four Super Emeralds glowing bright inside the dark bag in his hand.


	18. Chapter 18: Sacrifice

CHAPTER 18: Sacrifice

Tails walked only as fast as he had to in order to keep up with his friend, both namesakes dragging in a depressed manner on the cement behind him. One hand had made its way to his rumbling stomach. Neither of them had eaten much since they had last been at Amy's house quite a few days ago, and the many fast food restaurants on the outskirts of the city weren't helping.

The fox craned his head upward to look at Sonic.

The hedgehog was walking swiftly, but not running as he usually did. Apparently feeling Tails' gaze, he turned his head, thick quills swinging behind him as he looked at the fox. Almost as soon as he made eye contact with his friend, Tails looked down, suddenly interested in his red and white shoes.

Sonic wasn't fooled, though, and raised his eyebrows questioningly. "What's up?"

Almost reluctantly, Tails looked at him again.

"Are we going to have to walk through the city to get there?" He asked, gesturing towards the smoke rising from the top of a tall building not too far away.

"I'm afraid so, bro. The forest is practically in the city."

While he knew he had to continue forward, the fox's emotions were screaming for him to stop in his tracks. He didn't know if he could bear to see his city in the form of _ashes _again. He didn't know if he could bear to realize that Station Square would never be the same again.

Would blood remain on the streets from all the injured and… Tails gulped… dead people that authorities had taken away on stretchers? At the very thought, the fox's stomach began to make weird noises that had nothing to do with hunger. He closed his eyes as his mouth shaped into an unpleasant grimace. The image of the city in his mind's eye only became clearer.

It was then that he thought of the young boy again. Even though Sonic had assured him that it wasn't his fault and that he should move on, Tails couldn't fight back the guilt, nor could he fight back the tears.

He suddenly wished he'd let the child keep the blue Chaos Emerald he had found what seemed like an eternity ago. Subconsciously, he knew that if he _had _done that, it was likely that Sonic would never have been saved from that base, but still… the idea that he had taken it from him didn't help his guilt trip.

The young kitsune was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice it when they actually _were _in the city. That is, not until he inadvertently took a deep breath of black smoke and broke into an uncomfortable coughing fit.

"Whoa! You okay, there?"

Tails choked out several more raspy coughs, then said hoarsely, "Uh-huh."

The two of them had absentmindedly stopped in the middle of the deserted road. While Tails was still clearing his air passageways, Sonic was staring up into the dark grey sky: an ugly sight that was only seeable thanks to the glowing ashes of burned buildings and cars around them.

The sight of the city was like a heartbreaking ending to an otherwise wonderful movie. It was as if fate had gone wrong. Luck had been turning its good side to them for the past half month, but now it seemed that Zorro's prediction was correct after all: their luck had run out.

"Just two weeks ago, we were all happy and nothing was wrong at all. I just want to wake up in the morning and realize this was all a bad dream," Tails said, voice shaking.

"If only it could be that easy," Sonic said, his voice nearly inaudible in spite of the awful silence. Tails, unable to detect what emotion was behind Sonic's words, stared into his face, wondering if Sonic shared any of the thoughts running through his own mind.

For a second, the fox thought he saw a strange wetness coating Sonic's eyes. But as soon as he blinked, it was gone. A quick picture of Sonic actually _crying_ flashed across his mind, but he quickly dismissed the idea. _It's probably just the smoke. Sonic never cries._

He was so utterly oblivious to the whirlwind of emotions his hero was experiencing.

"What?" Sonic asked. His voice was not sharp, but firm, and slightly accusing.

Tails, not realizing he was still gazing at Sonic, looked away. "Just… nothing," he said. Sonic shrugged it off.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" The hedgehog asked, his tone as casual as he could make it.

"Yeah. Do you think that… Cream and Amy are okay?"

Sonic's expression began to show the slightest amount of worry, and that was enough to answer Tails' question. "I hope so. Hopefully that part of the city didn't take as much damage."

"Can we just get out of here?" Tails asked suddenly.

Sonic nodded, inwardly glad that the idea had been brought up. He wasted no time taking hold of Tails' hand and dashing forward at what both of them would normally consider to be an unnecessarily high speed.

He only slowed his feet when they were in the forest, and when the remains of the city were long behind them. The darkness of the imminent night had sneaked up on them; the sun had nearly dropped below the horizon.

Side by side, they continued to run through the trees, both pairs of feet splashing in the mud from yesterday's storm. No words were spoken between them, but every once in a while, Tails glanced over at Sonic, as if silently (and somewhat subconsciously) asking for reassurance. Sonic would just smile, but his own mood wasn't much of an improvement from Tails'.

Finally, the quietness took its toll on the fox, and he turned to his friend once more before asking urgently, "Sonic, do you think it'll ever be the same?"

"My guess is as good as yours," he said. The melancholy tone his voice had carried a few minutes ago was gone, but the optimism hadn't yet returned.

"They'll rebuild the schools and homes and stuff, won't they?"

"I'd think so. This is the only big city for quite a ways, so it's not like they can just relocate all the people somewhere else."

"Yeah. And part of the city is still okay, isn't it?" He asked.

"As long as there wasn't another attack behind our backs, then yes."

The slightest hint of a smile appeared on the fox's face. He wasn't happy in any sense of the word, but he was relieved.

Sonic's eyes suddenly flickered to the left and he stopped abruptly. A surprised Tails nearly ran into him before putting on the breaks as well. "What's up?" The fox whispered, ears perking up.

Sonic held up one finger, telling Tails to be quiet, and squinted. He swore a glint of metal had caught his eye…

He turned his head forward after a few seconds, deciding to ignore it for the time being, but just as he was about to break into a run again, a noise could be heard in the distance. It sounded like a twig snapping in two.

"He's out here," Sonic mouthed. He struggled to keep his breathing normal as he scanned the area around them. Fear was undeniable at this point; it was continuing to get darker and Sonic knew they wouldn't fare well fighting in this minimal amount of light, Super Emeralds or no Super Emeralds. Every strike would be pointless if you couldn't see your target.

"Take my hand. We're going to the base," Sonic whispered into Tails' ear. "If that's him, he'll follow us." The fox nodded and Sonic ran forward.

Mere yards to their left, an android watched them through a bush as they passed by. When they were out of earshot, he raised a walky-talky to his mouth and said in a monotone, "Targets headed towards base at approximately fifty miles per hour. Expect them to arrive in area U1 in less than five minutes. Ready your plan in area U4."

"See anything yet, Tails?" Sonic asked only a few minutes later.

Tails, who had taken this very path to the Dome Base, smiled and pointed forward. "It should be right beyond those bushes up ahead."

"Well then, hold on tight!" A few more speedy steps later, Sonic vaulted over the bushes in question and landed neatly on the other side.

"See the lights up there? I think that's the entrance," Tails told him.

"Screw the entrance!" Sonic quipped. A smirk split his face. He curled up and launched himself forward, dashing for the base at nearly top speed.

When he next stopped, he was inside, and a perfectly round hole decorated the wall behind him. Tails flew in and dropped next to his friend lightly.

"So… what was the point of that?"

"Just to aggravate Egghead if he happens to be around," he replied simply. "Come on, let's keep moving."

Tails followed behind Sonic, slightly more comfortable now that he was inside. It was true that he had never wanted to see this base again, but at least it was familiar. If worse came to worse, he knew how to escape.

"You remember where all the traps were, right?" Tails asked.

"Of course I do. I ran through area U1 at least five times when I was trying to get out of here!"

"Good, 'cause I don't," Tails admitted.

"Well, I'm going to need you to fly us in a second, here. I'm pretty sure this orange floor up ahead can produce electric shock." Sonic grimaced inwardly, remembering just what that had felt like when he had been trapped in the base.

After Tails lifted him into the air, Sonic pointed straight. "Keep going that way."

"Yeah, I remember that much. There's a glass door up ahead that leads to Upper Area Two, right?"

"Right. That's where all the cells were," Sonic recalled aloud, making it a point to keep away from said cells.

Getting to area U2 was much less hazardous than Tails had remembered last time. No robots jumped out in front of him, no fans turned on beneath him and blasted him up a tunnel, and no lasers lit up the room.

It was only when they entered section U3 that Sonic and Tails began to feel suspicious. This seemed far too easy. Was it a trap? Sonic knew that if it was, it was likely to be a good one, considering the circumstances. Eggman and Zorro must have known by now that they had Super Emeralds, or at least considered the idea that they _might _have Super Emeralds. _I bet they have something strong waiting for us, _Sonic concluded in his thoughts.

"Tails, just watch your step," he said. "Something's going on, here."

"How come there aren't lights on in here?"

"That's why I'm telling you to watch your step… I'm not sure. Maybe there _aren't _lights in here at all. We wouldn't know, would we? Neither of us have ever been in this area before. Maybe Eggman never had a need for lights in here."

"Maybe it's where he makes his robots and stuff," Tails guessed.

"I sure hope so," the hedgehog said not quite under his breath. "I'd love to destroy some of his stuff after what he did to Station Square."

Of course, he didn't plan on the robots being active when he carried out this threat. But nothing ever went according to plan, anyway, so when the sound of clanking metal footsteps could be heard a few minutes later, he wasn't surprised.

"Wait until you see what this room looks like when I'm done with it, Eggman," Sonic muttered. Without hesitating, he curled up into a ball and spin dashed at the walking chunks of metal as fast as he could, relying on nothing but his ears to lead him.

From the back of the area, Tails watched as several explosions took place, one after the other. He could practically feel Sonic's furious vibes every time he sliced through a robot.

Afterward, there was a brief moment of silence, then Sonic's voice. "Come on."

Tails followed the hedgehog-shaped silhouette obediently. His eyes seemed to be adapting to the dimness of the area; he could at least see outlines of things now.

"Some big trap," Sonic said after a few moments. Tails could practically hear the smirk on his face. "Was that a warm-up, Eggman?"

"Sonic, what if he just wanted you to think that was his trap? What if it gets worse?"

"There's no 'what if' in that. Zorro hasn't even showed up yet, so there's no doubt it's going to get worse."

"You say that like it's a good thing," Tails retorted.

"Super Emeralds, remember? He can't beat us!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Sonic sped up abruptly. "I see the next area up ahead!" he said ecstatically. "Just think, one hour from now, all this is going to be over!"

"Sonic, can you please not talk so loud right now?" Tails begged. "What if they can hear us?"

"So what?" Sonic stopped at the entrance of area U4 and turned to face him. "Tails, you have the Emeralds right in your hands. Nothing bad's going to happen!"

"I know, it's just…" Tails paused abruptly, recalling what Zorro had said to him about a week ago when he and Amy were trapped in the jungle.

"Just what?"

_He's just… a part of me, _Tails thought but didn't say. "Nothing. Let's go!"

As if to show Sonic he was ready, the fox walked past him and into the fourth area of the base. Sonic smiled and followed.

No sooner were they both in the room when the lights flashed back on, and a dark, loathing voice echoed throughout the area.

"The good luck you've been blessed with so far, Tails, has just run out!"

"NO! TAILS, _MOVE!!_"

There was a sickening sound and a surprised cry directly behind the fox. He whirred around just in time to see a flash of silver and a flash of blue collide in front of him.

Then the hero was on the ground, Zorro's blade pierced all the way through the center of his chest.

"Sonic…?"

**Tucker's Mayflower, I have a feeling the end of this chapter made you happy. XD**

**(sighs) I wish I could type every chapter like I typed this one. I read over this one again and I was surprised at how much better it flowed than many of my other ones. **

**Well, I hope I'm not the only one who thinks this was typed rather well. I'm really trying to get better. Sure, there are many (many, **_**many**_**) stories on FFN that have no description, order, or proper grammar whatsoever, but there are also many that amaze me, many that I can only dream to match.**


	19. Chapter 19: The Renaissance

**If I had to choose one chapter out of the entire series for people to read, it would probably be this one. This chapter **_**made **_**the story. In other words, the idea for this came before the rest of the story did – I put together the preceding events so that they fist just right with this chapter.**

**I think it's the most gruesome, action-packed, and emotional chappie in the story, and if I'm not mistaken, it's the longest in the entire series at 5,002 words!**

**Needless to say, I hope you're more than a little satisfied with it.**

CHAPTER 19: The Renaissance

And the fox stared.

His stare was set on the person lying motionless at his feet. The selfless champion who had always put him first. The only true hero he had ever known. His partner in battle. His best friend. The person who had never, _ever _failed to protect him for_ any_ reason.

And this time was no exception.

Sonic was on the ground directly between Zorro and Tails. Zorro's jagged, metal tail was stabbed through the hedgehog's very heart. The end of the blade was visible in between the quills on his back. Blood stained the metal floor as it poured from Sonic's chest like a faucet.

Tails didn't even feel sick to his stomach. He felt absolutely nothing for several minutes as his mind tried to piece together what had just happened. The sense of numbness terrified him. Wasn't he supposed to be upset? Wasn't he supposed to fall to his knees and start crying right now? What was _wrong _with him?

He wondered if this was the feeling of denial. He had heard of people denying that someone close to them was actually dead, but had never actually understood it. Now he was pretty sure he did, and he didn't like it.

_I promised myself I wouldn't let this happen_. The thought had no emotion behind it as the words crossed his mind. It was a mere inward declaration and nothing more. _That blade was meant for me. Not Sonic._

Then, after what seemed like an hour, the fact occurred to him that his enemy was still here, standing right in front of him. While Tails knew he should do something, his feet refused to move from the spot.

It was like the blood surrounding his shoes had frozen suddenly.

But as petrified as he was, something managed to pierce the invisible barrier around him and capture his attention.

It was Zorro's voice. He was… _laughing._ It wasn't even an evil laugh, nor was it triumphant. It was a whole-hearted laugh of hilarity.

Ever so slowly, Tails lifted his gaze to the now one-tailed doppelganger. They made eye contact, and Tails was sure Zorro's arrogant smile was the sickest thing he had ever seen. He knew it would give him nightmares for many weeks to come.

"Not exactly as I had planned," Zorro said, "but certainly close enough!"

Tails' eyes suddenly lit with fury as white-hot rage coursed through his veins. Angry tears blurred his vision and he clenched his fists. A low but vicious growl escaped his throat.

"What? Think you can hurt me?" Zorro mocked. Those words hit a nerve; the fox winced as he remembered how people used to treat him before he met Sonic. That insulting tone… the way he was looked down upon… it was so familiar.

"I know I can hurt you," the fox responded, his undertone venomous. If looks could kill, Zorro would exploded with so much force that the base itself shattered to bits as well.

Tails' fearless eyes remained locked onto Zorro as he opened up the brown bag in his hands. The four Super Emeralds rose above him with a glow so bright that the metallic clone raised an arm to shield his eyes.

To Tails' utter surprise, three more Emeralds joined his four as they floated. He realized that they were Zorro's. Just how he managed to take control of them when they were inside of the metal fox, Tails didn't know, but it satisfied him all the same. _Maybe it's that whole 'good overpowers evil' thing._

Trying to forget Sonic for a few moments, the orange fox's eyes closed. He was _going _to kill Zorro. It wasn't a matter of luck or strength this time. It was a matter of _fact_. He was going to kill Zorro.

The Super Emeralds, if possible, became even brighter. They began to spin, slowly at first, then faster. It wasn't long until the feelings of transformation were obvious; Tails' fur stood on end, a golden shield formed around him, and finally, his feet lifted off the ground.

He was in the air. That was only about one third of the battle, but he knew it was fast progress, nonetheless. He opened his eyes to see the Super Emeralds spinning round and round so fast that they were no more than white blurs.

They reminded him of what Sonic looked like when he ran really fast.

The fox's face twisted into an upset grimace and he closed his eyes, as if doing so was going to push the thought away. He couldn't get distracted, otherwise this would fail.

_Give me your power, seven Super Emeralds, _he commanded, and the reaction was immediate as he felt their supreme strength begin to fill his body. It was intensifying. _More. I need more._ His arms and legs began to shake as he struggled to absorb all their energy.

_Stay focused. Stay focused, _he repeated to himself. _I know I can do this again. If I could do it when I was a tot, I can certainly do it now._

The pain soon increased to the point where it was overwhelming. Tails was sure his entire body was on fire. He wanted so badly to drop to the ground and give up, to get rid of the agony, but he knew he couldn't. He had to defeat Zorro; failure was _not _an option.

_The riddle, Tails. Make this easier on yourself._

Tails' eyes shot open; he hadn't expected to hear that voice. It belonged to the Master Emerald. How that thing had communicated to him when it was apparently tens of miles away on Angel Island, the fox never knew.

_Go on._

He nodded, even if it couldn't be seen, and began to whisper to himself. "Beyond the golden orb lies…"

A sound like thunder boomed throughout the base. Tails shot up further into the air.

"…an object radiating before your eyes."

He began to feel his strength increase. It replaced some of the pain.

"Large and diamond shaped as it lays, and only to be used by the valiant and brave. More powerful than Chaos or existence itself, they're to be used correctly, or cast into hell. They are your enemies or your friends. They'll exist eternally, until the end."

He paused and risked splitting his eyelids. White, glorious flames surrounded him.

"There to save lives, or to kill, may they be used wisely, and only with will." Tails gritted his teeth, not in discomfort, but in determination. It was at this point where realization dawned: he was going to make it. It was as good as over.

"For the wrath of the seven Super is _unforgiving_—" he shot a dark glare at Zorro as he said this, and only continued when he was sure the fox had seen it, "—for they are not just Chaos, they are very nearly living."

Tails threw powerful hands outward and the room flashed white. The entire base began to shake as his thick orange fur changed to an astounding shade of lemon yellow. The appearance of the golden shield surrounding him became more threatening; it looked as if it was made out of pure electricity. His aqua-colored eyes changed to a rich navy blue.

The transformation was complete.

Tails let out a loud battle cry as he threw his arms downward towards Zorro. Bolts of lightning sped towards him. He backed up just in time to get out of the way.

Then the fox lowered himself steadily to the ground. "That was a lucky move," he whispered as he landed in front of his mortal enemy. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, inwardly asking the Super Emeralds to give him more power. "Don't bother with that brave face," he said to Zorro. "I can see the panic behind your eyes just as easily as you were able to read my thoughts.

"Before you die, I suppose you have a right to know my name," he continued threateningly, his words an exact imitation of Zorro's when they first met. "Call me Hyper Tails… if you ever get the chance."

Hyper Tails uncrossed his arms and faced them towards Zorro. There was a white flash as he released a devastating amount of energy. Then the metal fox went flying, his weight carrying him towards the other side of the area where he slammed into the far wall.

His body went into automatic shut-down mode and he fell to the ground, his blue eyes flashing on and off a few times before the color died away completely. The wall split and collapsed on top of him.

Hot, furious breaths came from Tails' throat as he glared across the room. "I bet that hurt, didn't it? Well, I'm not going to take the blame for this one, Zorro. It was Sonic's decision to save my life, and there's nothing I could have done about it!" His voice rose steadily as he continued. "I couldn't have turned around in time! It was _your _fault, _you_ stabbed him! _YOU_ STABBED HIM!!" His accusatory shouts sounded mad and he knew it; he wasn't actually yelling at Zorro, but rather trying to convince _himself _that he wasn't to blame for Sonic's death.

Somewhere inside though, guilt was hiding, just waiting for the opportunity to rub itself in the fox's young face and say, "you should have taken that blade, not Sonic."

Tears filled his eyes.

"_YOU_ STABBED HIM…!"

Tails dropped to the floor and buried his face in his gloved hands. Loud, agonized sobs of regret echoed around the room, wails that would make even the happiest person on the planet break down in a split second. His bright yellow form shook violently but he made no effort to control himself. Why should he? He was the only conscious person in the entire base. Zorro's central processing unit had definitely shut down (if he wasn't damaged beyond repair already), and Sonic was… Sonic was…

Tails couldn't force himself to think the word 'dead,' but he knew it was true. This time, he had been right there to witness it, and there was no denying what he had seen.

He knew there were other times when Sonic had supposedly died, but had always pulled through...

Like when he had shot Sonic with a laser on the Black Hawk. It had been against his will, of course, because of what Eggman had done to him, but he could still remember it like it was yesterday. The hedgehog had been electrocuted for every bit of five minutes, and his body had been scorched with dozens of burns.

Anyone else surely would have been dead. But by some twist of fate coupled with insane determination, he had made it.

And when he had been trapped in Eggman's base, both legs broken, paralyzed, and without food for weeks. He had lived in a five-by-five _cell _for _weeks_ at Eggman's mercy!

He had been found alive and _awake._

And when Zorro had threw him four hundred feet down from the edge of Angel Island, where he was left to drown in water that was at least fifty feet deep.

Luck alone had saved him that time, but nonetheless, he had survived.

Whether by fate or strength, the hedgehog had always outlived his enemies. It was as if the planet itself was not allowing Sonic to die yet because it knew that there were still people out there who needed him.

Just as Knuckles had said that day on the island, though, "It was bound to happen eventually, with all that guy's been through."

He was right. The fox knew that as he looked across the room at the hedgehog's body. He could see the lake of blood surrounding it.

Suddenly, Tails' train of thought was broken as the room began to look a bit darker, even through the fox's closed eyelids. He opened them, tears dripping off his short lashes, and noticed that the sudden dimness was because the luminous shield in front of him was beginning to fade. He swallowed the lump in his throat that had previously threatened to choke him, hiccupped, then blinked a few times, confused.

Then understanding dawned. _Zorro's drawing on MY power to keep himself strong! No, I won't let that happen!_

He began uttering the Master Emerald's riddle in a shaky voice. The static of the electric shield began to spark in front of him again, just as he assumed it would.

He lifted himself into the air and leaned forward, floating readily towards where Zorro was, but as he approached, he noticed something was out of place in this puzzle: Zorro was still unconscious. Chunks of the heavy metal wall still held him down exactly where he had fallen, and his position hadn't changed. Tails started to wonder if the other fox was faking his injury altogether, but almost as soon as the idea had come, it left: the robot's eyes were still dark.

"What's going on?" Tails asked aloud.

As if either of the two beings in the room would answer.

Was there something going on here that he didn't know about? Was this _another _trap? Maybe Eggman was in here, messing with the Super Emeralds somehow… and if he was, the fox thought, his fate was going to be the same as his creation's.

As Tails' thoughts wandered away from the riddle, the shield began to die away again. It went unnoticed by the fox until his fur started to return to his original orange color as well. He glanced at his arm and yelped, startled, and determinedly repeated the riddle in his head.

"Tails…"

A whisper. The fox's eyes darted towards Zorro again, but as far as he could tell, his metal look-alike hadn't moved. To make sure, though, he cautiously drifted forward until he could see his counterpart's face clearly. He began speaking the poem aloud now, as if that would keep Zorro from stealing his power - if that was indeed what was happening.

"Tails, stop that." The fox halted in mid-glide and realized with his keen sense of hearing that the voice was some distance behind him. He whirred around and jetted towards the other side of the room, more out of panic than anything.

A strained, forced whisper reached his ears as he stopped: "It's _me._"

Tails' eyes widened. That tortured voice belonged to Sonic. Slowly, he shifted his gaze to where his hero had apparently taken his last breath, and what he saw astonished him and broke his heart at the same time.

Hyper Sonic. Lying on the floor. A blade stuck in his body.

"No way…"

Nearly going into shock, the fox staggered over to Sonic's still form, allowing his powers to drain from him so that Sonic could finish his transformation. The immediate loss of energy combined with the sheer shock of the event caused Tails' legs to collapse beneath him, and he fell to his knees.

"Are you _alive_?" He breathed. The question would normally seem so outright obvious that it would be laughed at under almost any other circumstances, but in this case, it was an honest and credible inquiry.

"Thanks to them," Sonic mouthed, and Tails knew he meant the Super Emeralds. "Can't move. Pull it out before their power runs out."

"Wh—what? Are you really serious? But… but—!"

"If I go back to my regular form like this—" Sonic paused, was silent for a second, then coughed violently.

"Sonic!" Tails cried worriedly. He wanted so desperately to help, but didn't dare touch Sonic. The fox had never seen him looking so… fragile.

"Move aside," the hedgehog said suddenly.

Tails did with so much obedience that he nearly fell backwards. Sonic placed his hands on the ground and made to stand.

"Sonic, don't!"

For once, the hedgehog listened, and collapsed back onto the ground. As soon as he had started, he knew he couldn't do it.

Tails approached his friend again, more cautiously this time, and knelt down on one knee next to him. Speechless, he gripped him gently by the shoulders and turned him on his back.

"Can you still move?"

Sonic's contorted expression answered Tails' question quickly enough. The hedgehog's life was in the hands of the seven Super Emeralds. His remaining energy was being used to keep him in a Hyper state, and if he lost willpower for a second, his fur would return to its normal blue color and he would die – for good this time.

"How'd you manage to transform bef…"

"There'll be a better time for questions," the hedgehog interrupted. "_Please, _Tails."

Tails stared into his hero's eyes. The glint of undying bravery and altruism that Sonic had always represented was still visible in his eyes, and if the fox didn't know better, it had never left at all. That in itself was Tails' motivation, and slowly, carefully, he wrapped his fingers around the blade.

Tails opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and asked in an unusually high voice, "Will it hurt you more?"

"You really don't know the answer to that already?" Despite the fact that his endurance and stamina was increased at least ten times its normal maximum, nothing could stop the pain shooting through the hedgehog's sternum.

"When you turn blue again, will you… die?"

"I don't know," Sonic admitted, eyes closing. He was not afraid of death, and as long as Zorro and Eggman were defeated, it would be worth it any day of the week. Besides, if he was going to die this young, this was how he wanted to die: giving everything he had. Fighting to stop oppression. Fighting for his friends.

But still…

"Not gonna know 'less it's out," he said. Tails had to lean down to hear him. His sentences were getting shorter and shorter and his voice was getting quieter and quieter.

The fox's ears drooped. He _had _to do something _now, _and he knew it. As his eyes fell on Sonic's chest, he groaned, beginning to feel sick, and decided he liked the sight of Sonic's face better.

If Sonic was afraid at all, he was doing an excellent job of hiding it. Tails didn't see any fear in those jade green eyes, but rather _hope._ Here was the person lying defenseless with a rip through his body _controlling _himself, and Tails, uninjured, was scared out of his mind.

"I'm not going to let you die, Sonic," he said, his voice a forced calm. His free hand found Sonic's and he squeezed tightly, as if it was a stress ball. Some of the hedgehog's confidence seemed to travel from his hand right into Tails' during that brief moment, because the fox showed the slightest hint of a smile. Then he pulled his hand away and reinforced his grip on the blade with it.

"It's okay," Sonic said in an extremely quiet whisper. "Can't get any worse, can it?" His eyes closed again, and a single tear ran down his blue fur. Whether from physical pain, some sort of fear, or a combination of the two, Tails didn't know, but it was as much as he could take.

His hands tightened on the blade and he gave it a tug. There was a flinch. A groan. Then Sonic was still again.

"Can you maybe… open your eyes?" Tails asked shyly. "Sorry, you just… looked… dead, for a second, there…"

Sonic opened his right eye about half an inch, slowly, as if that in itself had been a struggle.

"I'm not going to let you down Sonic," Tails blurted suddenly.

"You've never… let me down… before…"

Tails smiled genuinely at Sonic's words. "Thanks, Sonic. I'll—"

"But I need you to promise me something. That you'll yank this thing out within the next minute… no matter what. If I scream or hit or anything, you can't stop. It's now or never. Even the Super Emerald's power can only last so—" he stopped and coughed again, and this time spots of blood colored the glowing white fur around his mouth.

_Now… just do it. NOW! _Tails told himself. _Come on, he needs you!_

Tightening his grip further, Tails gave the blade a few more experimental tugs, then realized he was only prolonging Sonic's suffering. Tears filled his eyes, knowing his life was slipping away, and finally, he yanked it – _really _yanked it – and it began to slide backwards through Sonic's flesh.

Tails cried out as he pulled, as if the pain Sonic was experiencing was his own. He could hear Sonic's stifled groans, could feel him tensing every muscle.

"I think I can get it," Tails said, hoping to assure his friend.

Sonic opened his eyes to look at him. Hidden behind the constantly obvious fear, he found determination in the fox's eyes. It gave him hope.

Suddenly, a burst of terrible agony shot throughout his torso. He clenched his hands reflexively, just barely suppressing a scream.

That urge for it to be over, no matter what the cost (even if only death could take him out of his misery) began to surface. The thought, _please be over, just let it end,_ came to his mind naturally. It was a feeling way too familiar to him by now, and something he had felt nearly every time his body had had more than it could take.

It was an inner battle he had always won.

_I have to do that again, or else I'll die. No pressure, though, _he added as a sarcastic afterthought.

But the pain was taking its toll; it seemed to spread throughout his body like a poison. He was drifting in and out of consciousness as his body begged him to succumb, to let the pain end.

_Stay awake. Open your eyes, look at the kid right above you! He needs you! What about what's left of Station Square?_

Sonic forced his eyes open. The first thing they fell on was the blade and the blood soaking his white fur, and the pain suddenly seemed ten times worse. No longer able to fight his body's demands, Sonic let out a bloodcurdling scream. Tails, startled, jerked the blade as hard as he could – and then it was over.

The hedgehog's scream died away in the air around him. The blade fell with a clatter from Tails' sweaty hand. Then the room was silent except for Sonic's shaky gasps for air.

The fox took a few calming breaths, then cautiously moved one hand over Sonic's chest. There was no trace of a wound; the Super Emeralds had healed it within seconds once the blade was out. Tails realized with a start what this meant: Sonic was going to make it.

Someone else seemed to become aware of this as well, as a loud, frustrated cry filled the room.

"WHAAAAAT!!!?"

A very distraught-looking Eggman suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "But… but…! WHY aren't you _dead!?_"

Sonic pressed around on his chest experimentally, surprised at how fast his wound had recovered, and somewhat cautiously rose into the air. Then he smiled. "You think I'm not wondering?"

"But… but I was watching the whole time! I saw him _kill _you! You were _dead!_"

"And you're supposed to be a scientific genius," Sonic remarked. "I didn't think it would take more than an IQ of three hundred to understand that if someone is standing perfectly unharmed right in front of your face, then they're definitely _not_ dead."

"But the _blade!_" Eggman protested.

In a flash, Sonic had sped downward and grabbed the blade in question, then moved forward towards Eggman. "You mean this?" He said, holding it in front of the doctor's face threateningly.

Doctor Eggman suddenly went very pale, and his frustrated tone disappeared. "You wouldn't."

"I could. But I won't, unless you don't get all five hundred pounds of yourself out of here within the next thirty seconds."

Eggman opened his mouth to retort, then thought better of it and left the room at a speed that even impressed the blue blur.

The hedgehog turned around to see his young friend staring at him as if he'd just seen a ghost. "You okay?" He asked.

The fox remained still, blinking once. Sonic took a step towards him, noticing he could see his own reflection in the kit's wide eyes. He looked like he was about to cry.

"Aw, c'mere, Tails," he said with a smile.

The fox obeyed, hurling himself forward in the air towards the hedgehog as fast as he could. Then lemon yellow collided with radiant white and the two of them were locked in a hug so tight it was painful. Tails even went as far as wrapping his namesakes around his friend, showing that he had no intentions of letting go.

"Okay, okay!" Sonic said after about a minute, easing Tails' arms away from his body. He couldn't help but laugh at the fox's disappointed face. "You were starting to cut off my circulation even in Hyper form! And that's saying somethin'!"

Just as Tails was about to respond, a sudden noise interrupted their moment. Both of them turned around to where they knew Zorro was laying – or at least, where he _had _been laying. The metallic fox clone was now standing on his feet, looking very nearly normal save for a few dents.

"It was just an auto-recover mechanism," Tails said to himself. "He wasn't dead."

"He will be when I'm done with him!" Sonic said. "But first…" he trailed off, then proceeded to kick the blade across the floor. "Pick it up, Zorro! C'mon, take another try!"

Zorro did. "Don't mess around with me, Sonic the hedgehog! I can still defeat you!"

"That's what they all say," he responded, shaking his head. "You just don't know when to give up, do you?"

Zorro was inching closer with every word the hedgehog said. "I'm not like the rest. You know I mean what I say."

"Sonic…" Tails began worriedly, but Sonic turned toward him and winked, a gesture that clearly said, 'I know what I'm doing.' Despite that, _and _the fact that they were both still in their Hyper forms, Tails couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Sonic was so overconfident in the face of near-death that it was scary, and they didn't know if Zorro still had some secret hidden up his sleeve…

"I mean, they all say, 'I am immortal, you can't defeat me, I'm stronger than you,' yahta-yahta-ya, _right after they lose._ How much sense does that make? About as much sense as me confessing my undying love to Eggman, in my opinion." He paused, rethinking what he'd just said and wondering where the hell _that_ one had come from, then continued: "But still, it's a complete contradiction! If you're about to die, then you should—"

"SHUT UP!"

"—at least let your pride live for a few seconds longer, shouldn't you? I swear, I really should learn to kill all you stupid bastards _before _you get to go through that whole 'I'm supposed to be the giant evil ruler' crap. It gets so boring, and it makes me feel like I just beat some lame video game rather than saved the world. I—"

"AHHHH!" Zorro wailed. His anger got the better of him and he lunged forward, blade aiming at Sonic's torso once again.

He was still. The blade came into contact with his skin and pressed it inward, but didn't break it. It didn't hurt; it felt more like a pencil eraser than a piece of jagged steel.

Sonic yawned. "There we go. Now I've got you right where I want you!"

For the first time since the two of them had met Zorro, fear was present in his eyes.

The hedgehog took hold of Zorro's arm and ripped the blade away from it, tossing it across the room. Then, faster than Zorro could react to escape, Sonic brought his hand down on his arm and snapped it in half.

Zorro screamed.

Tails, catching on, rushed towards the pair of them and grabbed Zorro from behind. "Spin dash 'im, Sonic!"

"All right!" The hedgehog hopped back, curled up into a ball, and was soon speeding forward again. Zorro couldn't escape Tails' death-iron grip; the Super Emeralds' powers were too much to resist.

Sonic slammed into the metal fox's stomach with the force of a cannonball. Zorro felt wires snap and metal ribs shatter. His mouth opened to scream again, but no sound came out.

Before he knew it, he was being lifted higher and higher into the air – Tails was effortlessly floating towards the ceiling.

"Say goodbye, Zorro," Tails whispered in his ear. "You're going down." After a brief moment of hesitance, the fox released him. Sonic finished his ascent and came to hover in the air next to his friend, and from fifty feet up they watched as their metal foe crashed into the equally metal ground. Chunks of fur-covered steel went flying everywhere, and to Sonic and Tails, the sound represented triumphant victory.

They had won.

**Because I type mostly for enjoyment, I don't do this very often, but… please, please, PLEASE REVIEW! I'M FRIGGIN' BEGGING YOU! And Sonic and Tails would like it, too!**

**One more chapter to go.**


	20. Chapter 20: Epilogue: Thanks Little Bro

I can't even describe how much fun I had typing this story. The amount of enjoyment I got out of sitting here in front of the computer desk doing this – and the amount of pride I felt when I got a great review – was so much more than it was for my other two stories. I feel like I did a lot better on this one, and that people liked it more.

Which is one of the reasons why this series _isn't _over yet like I originally planned it to be.

For those of you who have looked at my profile, you already know about my plans. For those of you who haven't… it'd be a good idea to take a look! I think you'll like what you see.

Also, this story wouldn't be complete without the support from all the reviewers, along with the invaluable tips provided. So, I feel obligated to have a special thanks section here.

**Taranea** – for reading the ENTIRE story even though I only requested that you read a few chapters, providing help after just about every chapter via reviews. Even over a short amount of time, you've helped me a lot and did FAR more than I asked. I also feel honored that you like my story, because as you know, I'm a huge fan of your work. So thanks, I appreciate EVERYTHING.

**Ember Rock** – for sticking with this story all the way through, providing tips here and there that helped me out and giving me one of the most flattering reviews I've ever gotten (you made my eyes water!).

**Tucker's Mayflower** – for also sticking with the story all the way through, along with reading previous installments of the series, and giving me funny, lighthearted reviews that always made me chuckle. And I suppose I owe you an apology for not keeping Sonic dead (LOL) – I considered the idea once, but with several other readers that wanted anything BUT for him to die (plus the idea that I originally had it planned for him to stay alive since the beginning of the story) I couldn't do it. But hey, that stab must have HURT an awful lot, anyway…

**Shelfkid91 **– for reviewing the first several chapters, along with reading both of my previous installments. I don't know what happened to you… I don't even know if you've still been reading this or not… but hopefully you come back soon!

**soniclover15 **– once again, for sticking with the story until its end and letting me know what you thought with a sentence or two after every chapter.

**Expoder **– for just a couple reviews, but I know you've been reading, and that alone I appreciate!

**Blueberry91 – **I remember receiving a couple reviews from you in my past stories, as well as this one, so I know you're out there reading, too.

**Asher Tye – **I felt quite honored to get a review from you, as I'm a huge fan of your story, Silver Fox (which I know has been renamed Prophecy – no wonder it took me so long to find it again!). You also reminded me that Zorro was Spanish for 'fox,' hence the name of the character.

**Awdures **– for one review saying that it had an interesting start.

**scotchtails – **for one review implying that you really like the story a lot, and also refreshing my memory of where I got the idea for the name 'Zorro'…

**Karasua –**for a review saying my story was living up to its legacy. I appreciate the compliment!

**Sakura999 **– for the review saying it was really good and that you liked it.

**jellymaster – **looks like you enjoyed it, too (what you read of it, anyway…not sure if you're still reading or not). Thanks!

For anybody and everybody else who reviewed OR just read, _**thank you**_, and I hope you'll ALL return to read the next installment, titled Faster Than You Think. I will start posting it sometime in April (or possibly a bit earlier), so don't forget to add me to your author alert list!

Right now, though, I present to you the final chapter in Beyond the Chaos.

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CHAPTER 20: Epilogue – Thanks, Little Bro

It was still dark out when Sonic and Tails returned to the Mystic Ruins. All remnants of the bad weather that had plagued them for the last few days were gone; the sky was peaceful and cloudless. Almost every star was visible. Hundreds of feet below the ruins, the ocean water shimmered tranquilly, distorting the reflection of the moon only a little.

Sonic, who was walking a few feet in front of Tails, suddenly turned around and collapsed on his back in the soft grass. The fox, thinking something was wrong, worried for a moment before realizing that this had been intentional.

"Why're you laying down?" He asked.

A shrug. "It's a nice night."

"You're not going to sleep there, are you?"

"You say that like you're surprised. I sleep outside a lot when the temperature is right," Sonic told him.

"Why don't you come back to my house? The couch in the living room can pull out into a bed. We'll just have to yank the quills out in the morning, but—"

"Nah, it's okay. I haven't liked being inside at night ever since I was paralyzed. Amy's house makes so many weird noises…"

Tails chuckled.

The hedgehog had never lived in a house, and so he wasn't used to all the creeks and cracks. He was fine with that, but when Sonic had almost been killed an hour ago, he wasn't too fond of leaving him alone outside. But he was cold and unlike his friend, he felt much safer _inside _than out.

"Well, I'm going to go sleep in my bed," Tails said. He could see his house from here; it was the only thing providing light in the ruins right now.

"Hey, we can meet up in the morning and take a ride in the Tornado if you want," Sonic told him.

"Yeah!" He agreed, more than a little ecstatic. "Wow, we haven't used that thing just for fun in a long time. You wanna pilot?"

"If I still remember how… and if you haven't tweaked the controls too much."

"Okay! Well, um, see you tomorrow, I guess," the fox said, beginning to walk away.

"Yup," he replied. After a moment's vacillation, he sat up. "And… Tails?"

The fox turned back around and looked into Sonic's eyes. A million emotions were exchanged between the two in the following seconds. Then Tails spoke. "What?"

"I… um, I… thanks," he stammered.

A little confused by the hedgehog's nervous tone, Tails raised an eyebrow for a second, then figured that it was just the hedgehog's ego kicking in and telling him not to get too… mushy. "You're welcome," the fox finally answered, blinking.

"No… I really mean it. After all, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be alive right now!" That unusually wet glint appeared in Sonic's eyes again as he stood up, and this time, Tails was positive it was there. "I love you, little bro."

As the hedgehog gave Tails a brotherly slap on the shoulder, the fox's cerulean irises grew just a little bigger.

Then Sonic laid back down on the ground as if they hadn't just shared that semi-histrionic moment and closed his eyes. The fox stared down at his friend for a few seconds, perplexed, before giving in to a smile and silently turning and walking towards his workshop.

Some two minutes later, the blue hero turned on his side to get comfortable. He opened his emerald eyes and just stared. He knew another impossible battle would pop up soon enough, and he would be _more_ than ready for it when it did. But right now, he wanted nothing more than to do exactly what he was doing: relishing the calmness, feeling the slightly moist grass beneath him, taking in the night's beauties… the coolness of the air, the crickets chirping, the brightness of the moon and stars and his glowing Super Emerald laying in the grass a few yards away…

Wait… _what!?_

Sonic hopped to his feet, heart already pounding furiously (which he was subconsciously thankful for; that was a surefire sign that the Emeralds had healed his wound completely).

Five seconds later, he cupped the object in his hands and lifted it off the ground, eyeing it suspiciously. It was undoubtedly a Super Emerald, all right.

"TAILS!"

The fox, who had been taking his time back to his workshop, turned on his heels. "WHAT?" He called back, running towards Sonic as fast as he could. "What happened?"

"You're not going to believe this!" He said once Tails approached. He held out the Emerald in his hands.

"Are you serious? What's _this _doing here?"

"I don't know!"

"I thought they were supposed to scatter after we used 'em!"

"They were! Maybe… maybe it did scatter, and just happened to end up here," Sonic suggested.

The fox calmed down a little. "I guess that's possible. But isn't is supposed to create some kind of world around itself for protection? And disguise itself as a ring, like the one you found underwater did? Or… wait a minute… no! It's supposed to change back to a Chaos Emerald now!"

"I guess it takes some time," the hedgehog replied.

"Wow, Sonic, sometimes things aren't what you think they are, are they?" Tails asked, tone lightening.

"What do you mean by that?" Sonic questioned, smiling at him.

"I mean, we both hated 'em. We were scared to death to use these things, and in the end we're alive because of them!"

"Fear of the unknown," Sonic said. "You know, even though we've used them before, we knew next to nothing about them… why they warped the airspace around them into those weird dimensions, why they caused us so much pain while we transformed… but even though I still don't fully understand everything, I don't think it matters anymore."

Tails just gazed trustingly at the radiant white gem, smiling. He wasn't afraid anymore… of the Emeralds, of Zorro, or even Eggman (at least, not right now). He actually felt a sense of security as he looked down at it. "I never thought all this would turn out as good as it did," he said. "When we first found out Zorro had three of these inside him, I really thought it wasn't worth it to fight at all. I never thought…"

"Neither did I, Tails," Sonic admitted. Despite his ostensibly positive outlook, deep down, the hedgehog really hadn't felt that much different than his friend. The main reason he had kept on fighting, he realized, was to keep _Tails' _hopes up and make him proud. For a brief moment, he wondered if Tails hadn't voiced _his_ true thoughts for the exact same reason, but then shoved his wonders aside and simply smiled. "Neither did I."


End file.
